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} - -.tdl {text-align: left; padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -.1em;} -.tdr {text-align: right;} -.tdc {text-align: center;} - -.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ - /* visibility: hidden; */ - position: absolute; - color: #A9A9A9; - left: 92%; - font-size: smaller; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - text-indent: .5em; -} /* page numbers */ - - -.blockquot { - margin: 1.5em 5% 1.5em 5%; -} - -.blockquotx { margin: 1.5em 10% 1.5em 10%; } - -.noindent {text-indent: 0em;} - -.bbox {margin: 5% 10% 5% 10%; - padding: .5em; - border: double thick;} - -.center {text-align: center;} - -.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} - - -/* Images */ - -img { - max-width: 100%; - height: auto; -} -img.w100 {width: 100%;} - - -.figcenter { - margin: auto; - text-align: center; - page-break-inside: avoid; - max-width: 100%; -} - - -/* Poetry */ -.poetry-container {text-align: center;} -.poetry {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;} -.poetry {display: inline-block; font-size: 90%} -.poetry .stanza {margin: 1em auto;} -.poetry .verse {text-indent: -3em; padding-left: 3em;} - -/* large inline blocks don't split well on paged devices */ -@media print { .poetry {display: block;} } -.x-ebookmaker .poetry {display: block;} - -/* Transcriber's notes */ -.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA; - color: black; - font-size:smaller; - padding:0.5em; - margin-bottom:5em; - font-family:sans-serif, serif; } - -/* for inserting info from TN changes */ -.corr { - text-decoration: none; - border-bottom: thin dotted gray; -} - -/* Poetry indents */ -.poetry .indent0 {text-indent: -3em;} -.poetry .indent2 {text-indent: -2em;} - -/* Illustration classes */ -.illowp48 {width: 48%;} -.illowe4_6875 {width: 4.6875em;} -.illowe5_8125 {width: 5.8125em;} - - </style> - </head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Buffalo Bill, Peacemaker, by Colonel Prentiss Ingraham</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -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 <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<table style='padding:0; margin-left:0; border-collapse:collapse'> - <tr><td>Title:</td><td>Buffalo Bill, Peacemaker</td></tr> - <tr><td></td><td>On a Troublesome Trail</td></tr> -</table> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Colonel Prentiss Ingraham</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 02, 2021 [eBook #64446]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Edwards, Susan Carr and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUFFALO BILL, PEACEMAKER ***</div> - -<div class="figcenter illowp48" id="cover" style="max-width: 52.125em;"> - <img class="w100" src="images/cover.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<hr class="chap p6 pg-brk" /> - -<h1>Buffalo Bill, Peacemaker<br /> - -<span class="fs50">OR,</span><br /> - -<span class="fs70">ON A TROUBLESOME TRAIL</span></h1> - -<p class="pfs80 p6">BY</p> - -<p class="pfs135">Colonel Prentiss Ingraham</p> - -<p class="pfs90">Author of the celebrated “Buffalo Bill” stories published in the<br /> -<span class="smcap">Border Stories</span>. For other titles see catalogue.</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe5_8125" id="colophon"> - <img class="w100 p3" src="images/colophon.jpg" alt="Colophon" /> -</div> - -<p class="pfs120 p4">STREET & SMITH CORPORATION</p> -<p class="pfs90 bold">PUBLISHERS</p> -<p class="pfs120">79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York</p> - -<hr class="chap p10pc" /> - -<div class="bbox pg-brk"> - -<p class="p2 pfs100">Copyright, 1910</p> -<p class="pfs100">By STREET & SMITH</p> -<hr class="r10" /> -<p class="pfs100 pb2">Buffalo Bill, Peacemaker</p> -</div> - -<p class="pfs80">(Printed in the United States of America)</p> - -<p class="pfs90">All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign<br /> -languages, including the Scandinavian.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<hr class="chap" /> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - -<table class="autotable fs90" width="85%" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"></td> -<td class="tdl"></td> -<td class="tdr fs80">PAGE</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr"></td> -<td class="tdl">IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">I.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE PRISONER IN THE DUGOUT.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">5</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">II.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE GAME OF “FREEZE OUT.”</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_12">12</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">III.</td> -<td class="tdl">FLUSH DAYS IN TEXAS.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_31">31</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">IV.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE SKY PILOT TAKES A HAND.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_44">44</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">V.</td> -<td class="tdl">“COME-ALONGS.”</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">VI.</td> -<td class="tdl">PARDS IN COUNCIL.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_58">58</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">VII.</td> -<td class="tdl">AT THE H-P RANCH.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">VIII.</td> -<td class="tdl">A DASH FOR FREEDOM.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_71">71</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">IX.</td> -<td class="tdl">DUTCH COURAGE.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_84">84</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">X.</td> -<td class="tdl">IN TROUBLED WATERS.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_97">97</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XI.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE MAN WITH A WARNING.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_109">109</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XII.</td> -<td class="tdl">AT LIGE BENNER’S RANCH.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_121">121</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XIII.</td> -<td class="tdl">A FIENDISH PLOT.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_134">134</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XIV.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE HUNCHBACK’S QUICK WIT.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_141">141</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XV.</td> -<td class="tdl">A “FLASH IN THE PAN.”</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_148">148</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XVI.</td> -<td class="tdl">HELD BY THE ENEMY.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_155">155</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XVII.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE PLOT AT HACKAMORE.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XVIII.</td> -<td class="tdl">BUFFALO BILL’S SUMMONS.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XIX.</td> -<td class="tdl">AT ODDS WITH THE SHERIFF.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_182">182</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XX.</td> -<td class="tdl">IN A GOOD CAUSE.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_196">196</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXI.</td> -<td class="tdl">LONG ODDS.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_202">202</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXII.</td> -<td class="tdl">PEACE ON THE BRAZOS.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_209">209</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXIII.</td> -<td class="tdl">RED THUNDERBOLT.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_214">214</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXIV.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE QUARREL.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXV.</td> -<td class="tdl">SIM PIERCE BRINGS NEWS.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_244">244</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXVI.</td> -<td class="tdl">THE MOB FROM PHELPS’ RANCH.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_257">257</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXVII.</td> -<td class="tdl">BENNER’S CHANGE OF HEART.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_270">270</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXVIII.</td> -<td class="tdl">IN THE ENEMY’S CAMP.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_282">282</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXIX.</td> -<td class="tdl">RED STEVE.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_295">295</a></td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">XXX.</td> -<td class="tdl">CONCLUSION.</td> -<td class="tdr"><a href="#Page_307">307</a></td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1"></a>[Pg 1]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="IN_APPRECIATION_OF_WILLIAM_F_CODY">IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY<br /> -<span class="fs70">(BUFFALO BILL).</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>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 <cite>New -York Weekly</cite>. 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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.”</p> - -<p>In 1868 and for four years thereafter Colonel Cody<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[2]</span> -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.</p> - -<p>After completing a period of service in the Nebraska -legislature, Cody joined the Fifth Cavalry in 1876, and -was again appointed chief of scouts.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>Assisted by Ned Buntline, novelist, and Colonel Ingraham, -he started his “Wild West” show, which later -developed and expanded into “<ins class="corr" id="tn2" title="Transcriber’s Note—“A Congress of the Rough-riders of the World” changed to “A Congress of the Rough Riders of the World”.">A Congress of the Rough Riders of the World</ins>,” -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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[5]</span></p> - -<p class="pfs180">BUFFALO BILL, PEACEMAKER.</p> - -<hr class="r10" /> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE PRISONER IN THE DUGOUT.</span></h2> -</div> - -<p>Fate was in a very capricious mood when Buffalo Bill -and his pards carried their activities into the Lone Star -State. They galloped over the plains and plunged full -tilt into one of the most surprising misplays ever made -by that arrant gamester—Chance.</p> - -<p>There was a triangle of blunders, and it so happened -that there was a pard in each corner, ready to take advantage -of what came his way and turn misfortune into -fortune for Cattleman Perry, his daughter Hattie, -and a worthy cowboy of the name of Dunbar. The powerful -clique of cattle barons were beaten at their own -game of freeze out—and for this they had the scout and -his pards to thank.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill dropped into his corner of the complication -on the wide grazing grounds, en route to the town -of Hackamore, where he was to join Wild Bill, old -Nomad, the trapper, who had shared many dangers with -the scout, Baron von Schuitzenhauser, his Dutch pard, -and Little Cayuse, his Indian trailer. And when it is -said that he “dropped” into the complication, the statement -is to be taken literally.</p> - -<p>It was a night, a night made brilliant by moon and stars. -The scout was two days from Portales, New Mexico,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[6]</span> -having diverged from the trail taken by his pards in -order to halt for half a day in the town of Texico.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill was off the trail, a plainsman having -shown him a short cut that was to save many miles of -saddle work. As Bear Paw forged ahead at a slow, -steady gallop, the scout rocked gently in his saddle, -half dozing.</p> - -<p>He did not see the stovepipe that rose out of the -ground in front of him, nor did he see the little ridgelike -lifting of the earth adjacent to the stovepipe.</p> - -<p>Bear Paw saw the pipe, however, and to evade it attempted -to cross the small elevation. Intelligent horse -though he was, how was he to know that elevation was -not solid earth?</p> - -<p>The black charger was in for a surprise. It was -sprung with demoralizing suddenness.</p> - -<p>Two strides carried Bear Paw over the high point of -the ridge; a third stride brought a crash under his rear -hoofs, and the after part of his body slumped downward.</p> - -<p>A startled yell, seemingly coming out of the very -earth, smote on the scout’s ears.</p> - -<p>Caught at a disadvantage by the accident, Buffalo Bill -was thrown backward out of his saddle and clear of the -struggling horse.</p> - -<p>Bear Paw’s front hoofs were on solid ground and, -with a prodigious effort, he saved himself from sinking -and clambered to safety beyond the deceptive ridge. But -the scout dropped through the breach, grabbed at a log -rafter, missed it, and fell in a huddle for a distance of ten -feet.</p> - -<p>He brought up on all fours, jarred through and -through and blinking in a cloud of dust and a flood of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[7]</span> -lamplight. A clutter of dirt and broken poles lay around -him.</p> - -<p>The transformation from an easy gallop over the cool, -open plain to this underground hole with its light and -dust, had been so abrupt that the scout was taken at a -loss.</p> - -<p>But he was not the only one taken at a loss. In front -of him, as the flurry of dust was wafted aside, he saw a -strapping figure in hickory shirt, homespun trousers and -cowhide boots—a figure topped with a mop of red hair, -under which was a lean, leathery face.</p> - -<p>The face of the figure was blank. Two washed-out -blue eyes stared at the scout; and the scout, on hands -and knees, stared back.</p> - -<p>“Who in blazes are ye?” demanded the red-headed -man, all at once finding his voice.</p> - -<p>“A stranger and a traveler,” answered the scout, the -ludicrous nature of the situation gradually appealing to -him. “A man who—er—a-tchoo!”</p> - -<p>“What d’ye mean by knockin’ a hole in the roof an’ -slammin’ in on me like this?” went on the other, coming -out of his surprise with a manner distinctly hostile.</p> - -<p>The scout picked himself up slowly, felt of his bruises, -and gave vent to a grewsome laugh.</p> - -<p>“If you think, amigo, that I meant to knock a hole -in your roof,” said he, “you’ve another guess coming. If -I had planned to pay you a visit I wouldn’t have gone -about it like this, would I?”</p> - -<p>“How do I know who ye are, or what ye’d do?” fumed -the other, far and away more savage than the scout -thought the mishap warranted. “I don’t want no truck -with ye, anyways. If ye didn’t allow ter pay me a visit, -an’ if ye ain’t here from ch’ice, then yore next move is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[8]</span> -ter git out as quick as ye come in. Them’s the stairs”—he -waved a hand toward a ladder that led upward to a -flat door in the roof—“an’ at the same time we says -hello, we also says good-by. Start yerself.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not inclined to stay here any longer than you -want to have me,” answered the scout, “but I landed -with something of a jolt. If it’s all the same to you, I’ll -just catch my breath before I try the stairs.”</p> - -<p>“It ain’t all the same ter me,” barked the man. “I -want ye ter go, an’ I want ye ter go ter oncet! With -this ter back up the invite, I reckon ye won’t stand -none on the order ter hike.”</p> - -<p>The red-haired man made a swipe at his belt and lifted -a hairy hand with a six-shooter. Buffalo Bill looked -him in the eye and then coolly sat down on a two-legged -stool that happened to be handy.</p> - -<p>“I’ve heard a good deal about Texas hospitality,” said -he, “but you’re giving it a hardware twist that I don’t -like. And when I don’t like a thing,” he added significantly, -“I’m apt to make it pretty plain.”</p> - -<p>“Ye kain’t run in any rannikaboo on me,” snorted the -red-haired person, jabbing the air with the point of his -gun. “Ye say yer drappin’ in was a accident. I’m lettin’ -it go at that, an’ givin’ ye a chance ter depart without -any fireworks. An’ I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ about the -damage ye done ter the dugout, nuther. Pick up yore -hat an’ scatter. I’ll count three. When I say ‘one,’ ye’ll -reach fer the hat; when I say ‘two,’ ye’ll be on the -stairs; an’ when I say ‘three,’ ye’ll either be through -that door in the roof or I’ll drop ye in yer tracks.”</p> - -<p>The barbarous methods of this red-haired man were -utterly uncalled for. He was showing a spirit that needed -taming.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[9]</span></p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill dropped his eyes to the litter on the floor. -His hat lay there, and from under the brim of the hat -showed two inches of revolver-muzzle. One of the scout’s -six-shooters had been jarred from his belt and had -fallen under the sombrero.</p> - -<p>“One!”</p> - -<p>The word was a yelp, and the blued barrel of the -Texan’s gun looked the scout full in the face.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Buffalo Bill cheerily.</p> - -<p>He reached for his hat with both hands. But only -one hand picked up the hat; the other caught the handle -of the six-shooter.</p> - -<p>Then something happened which the Texan had not -been looking for. As the scout arose from the stool, -the report of a firearm split the air. A bullet passed -through the crown of the sombrero, singed the Texan’s -ear and clipped a lock of his red hair.</p> - -<p>For an instant, barely an instant, the Texan’s revolver -shook uncertainly. That instant spelled opportunity for -the scout. With the speed of thought he grabbed the -hostile gun, jerked it away, and looked over the sights -at its owner.</p> - -<p>“Why don’t you count ‘two?’” inquired the scout -pleasantly.</p> - -<p>But the Texan had lost the count. Instead of trying -to find it, and go on with it, he began to swear.</p> - -<p>“Sit down,” ordered Buffalo Bill. “I’ve caught my -breath, all right, but I want to read you a lesson in -common civility, and show you how to treat a traveler -who accidentally drops in on you through the roof of -your dugout.”</p> - -<p>Some one laughed. It was not the red-haired man, -of course, for he was in anything but a merry mood.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[10]</span> -The laughter came from behind the scout, and was the -first intimation that there was any one else in the place.</p> - -<p>The scout could not very well turn from the red-haired -man and investigate.</p> - -<p>“Who’s doing that?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“You git right out o’ here!” flamed the red-haired -man. “This ain’t none o’ yore put-in, or——”</p> - -<p>“I wasn’t talking to you,” cut in the scout sharply. -“Who are you, behind there?”</p> - -<p>“Nate Dunbar,” came the answer.</p> - -<p>“If you’re a friend of this red-headed rawhide, Dunbar,” -proceeded the scout, “why don’t you step up behind -me and help him put me out?”</p> - -<p>“For two reasons,” answered the voice behind. “First -off, neighbor, I’m no friend of Red Steve’s. Then, again, -I’m lashed and laid away on the shelf. If I was able to -move, I’d take Red Steve down and choke the breath -out of him.”</p> - -<p>“Dunbar’s a hoss thief that I’ve captured,” cried Red -Steve, “an’ I want ye ter go on erbout yore bizness -an’ leave us alone.”</p> - -<p>“I’m no horse thief,” said Dunbar, “and Red Steve -talks crooked. He’s working for Benner, and Phelps, -and the rest of those cattle barons on the Brazos. It’s -tin-horn work, too, and Red has to use the double -tongue.”</p> - -<p>“I thought there was something more than just common -incivility back of his treatment of me,” observed the -scout, a glitter rising in the eyes that looked across the -revolver sights. “Don’t you try to talk!” he said sternly -to the man in front of him. “Walk around and take the -ropes off Dunbar. When I count ‘one,’ you’ll begin to -move; when I say ‘two,’ you’ll begin on the ropes; and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[11]</span> -when I finish with ‘three,’ if Dunbar isn’t clear of his -bonds, I’ll do something more than singe your ear and -take a lock of your red hair. Chance, it seems, has -bobbled, and dropped me into the right place at just -about the right time. Now, then, one!”</p> - -<p>There was that in the scout’s eyes and manner which -caused Red Steve to start promptly toward the other side -of the dugout. As he moved, the scout turned on the -stool and let the revolver follow him.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[12]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE GAME OF “FREEZE OUT.”</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>On the plains of northwest Texas, in an early day, the -dugout was a popular institution. No wind could shake -such a house, and no earthquake could topple it over. In -most structures, a man begins at the bottom and builds -to the top, but in a dwelling like that under consideration -a man begins at the top and works downward.</p> - -<p>The usual underground house measured about fifteen -by twenty feet, and was from seven to ten feet in height. -Some three feet from the floor the walls were abruptly -widened out, thus giving a shelf in the earthen wall. This -shelf extended around the whole room, and was three -feet in width—or more or less according to the fancy -of the owner.</p> - -<p>The shelf took the place of chairs, of dining table and -of bunks. A few three-legged stools might be added, if -the one who occupied the underground house had the -wood and the time necessary to make them.</p> - -<p>A fireplace was usually cut in the solid dirt wall and, -with an ordinary posthole augur, a chimney was bored -down to it. A joint of stovepipe, extending upward -from the top of the hole, gave the fireplace a chance -to breathe.</p> - -<p>The construction of the roof was as simple as that of -the rest of the house.</p> - -<p>A log was laid lengthwise across the top of the dugout, -in the direction of its greatest length. This was -the ridgepole. Smaller logs were then placed with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[13]</span> -one end on this and the other on the ground. Poles -covered the rafters, hay covered the poles, and a layer -of earth covered the hay. A door was contrived in the -slant of roof from the ridgepole. Stairs communicating -with the door were sometimes cut in the solid earth, and -sometimes—as in the case of Red Steve’s dugout—the -only stairway was a stepladder.</p> - -<p>In a cattle country, where cowboys go galloping recklessly -over the range, or where longhorns occasionally -stampede, it stands the dugout dweller in hand to make -his roof exceptionally strong. Either Red Steve had -failed to make his roof of the proper strength, or else -age had weakened it.</p> - -<p>This was not the scout’s first visit to such a house, -but it was the first time he had ever dropped bodily -into a dugout and into the curious tangle he had found -in this one.</p> - -<p>A tin lamp stood on the earthen shelf. Red Steve, covered -by the scout’s revolver, moved sullenly to the shelf -at the end of the dugout. There, somewhat in the -shadow, lay the form of a cowboy. The scout could not -see much of him, but he knew very well that he would -see more of him later.</p> - -<p>“Two!” called Buffalo Bill. “That’s your cue to begin -the untying, Red Steve.”</p> - -<p>“This ain’t goin’ ter be the end of this,” snarled the -red-haired Texan. “Ye ain’t got no bizness buttin’ in on -me an’ makin’ me let this feller go. Some big men -over on the Brazos’ll call ye ter time fer it.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll foot any bill the big men over on the Brazos present,” -returned the scout. “Meanwhile, you heard what -I said a minute ago, Red Steve. Carry out your orders -and there’ll be no trouble.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[14]</span></p> - -<p>“But ye don’t understand! This here galoot is a villain -from the spurs up, so——”</p> - -<p>“I can’t see much of him, but if he’s more of a villain -than you’ve shown yourself to be, I’ll be more surprised -than I was when I dropped through your roof. I said -‘two’ all of a minute ago,” the scout finished significantly.</p> - -<p>Swearing under his breath, Red Steve went roughly to -work at the ropes on the prisoner’s hands.</p> - -<p>“He’s trying to tear my arms off, I reckon,” growled -Nate Dunbar.</p> - -<p>Bang!</p> - -<p>Steve’s weapon spoke hoarsely from the scout’s hand. -A bullet “plunked” into the earth wall over the shelf, -fanning close to Steve’s face.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t counted ‘three,’ yet,” said the scout, “so -that’s only a warning. Be a little more careful, Steve.”</p> - -<p>The red-haired man, by that time, was firmly convinced -that his unwelcome visitor had not been talking -for effect. In a few moments he had removed the ropes. -Dunbar got off the shelf and stamped his feet and -thrashed his arms to get his blood back into normal circulation.</p> - -<p>As he came out farther into the lamplight, Buffalo Bill -saw that he was an athletic young fellow, of about twenty-one -or two. He wore the high-heeled boots of a cowboy, -“chaps” were buckled about his waist, and a blue -flannel shirt covered his broad shoulders. His face -was frank and pleasing, not to say handsome.</p> - -<p>“You don’t know much about me, pardner,” he remarked -to Buffalo Bill, “but I can show a clean record.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll gamble on that, amigo,” said the scout. “Just -from the looks of you, Dunbar, I’m positive I haven’t<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[15]</span> -made any mistake. How did you happen to fall into -Red Steve’s clutches?”</p> - -<p>“It was a put-up job,” was the answer. “Steve’s working -for the cattlemen over on the Brazos, and they were -paying him to keep me here until they figured out what -to do with me.”</p> - -<p>“Are you a rancher?”</p> - -<p>“I’m a cattleman, and I’ve an interest in Dick Perry’s -bunch of steers.”</p> - -<p>“Who’s Dick Perry?”</p> - -<p>“He’s the man the other cattlemen are trying to freeze -out.”</p> - -<p>A scowl came over Dunbar’s face and his eye flashed -ominously.</p> - -<p>“Why are the cattle barons trying to freeze him out?” -asked the scout, conscious of a deep interest in the young -cowboy and his fortunes.</p> - -<p>“It’s all on account of Hattie.”</p> - -<p>“Hattie?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Hattie Perry, Dick’s girl.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! We’re running into romance, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>The scowl faded from Dunbar’s face and a flush ran -through his bronzed cheeks.</p> - -<p>“You’ve been a friend of mine, stranger,” said he, -“and I don’t mind throwing the proposition wide open -for you. Lige Benner has wanted to marry Hattie for -some time, and he asked her and got turned down. But -that didn’t phase him, and he went to Dick with his -proposition and got turned down again. Benner has -acted like more kind of a wolf in this business than I -know how to tell. When Perry turned on him, and told -him where he was to get off, he swore that he’d make<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[16]</span> -Perry so much trouble that Perry would give up Hattie -just to be able to live in peace.</p> - -<p>“Right then and there, Benner started in to make -trouble. Perry’s steers were run off in bunches, some of -the ranch buildings were burned, and cowboys from -up and down the Brazos came pestering around, doing -all sorts of sneaking and underhand things. Every now -and then, Benner has some skulking puncher nail a note -to the ranch-house door telling Perry that he knows -what to do when he’s got enough.”</p> - -<p>The scout muttered an angry exclamation.</p> - -<p>“That’s a fine state of affairs,” said he. “I shouldn’t -think the other cattlemen would stand for such rascally -work.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I, either; but they do. The rest of the barons -are friends of Benner’s, and they’re backing him to a -man. Perry’s a late comer on the range, and the cattlemen -would like to run him out. I reckon that’s the -reason they’re standing by Benner like they are.”</p> - -<p>“But what has Benner got against you, Dunbar, that -he should have you roped and given into the custody -of Red Steve?”</p> - -<p>“Well, stranger,” answered Nate Dunbar, with some -embarrassment, “Hattie has promised to marry me, and -that’s reason enough for Benner taking the sort of stand -against me that he does.”</p> - -<p>“Oh!” exclaimed the scout, “so that’s how the wind -blows, is it? This free country of ours has dropped into -a fine state of lawlessness if a young lady can’t choose -her own husband without turning loose the dogs of war. -What does Dick Perry think about you, Nate?”</p> - -<p>“He’s on my side. Didn’t I tell you I had an interest -in his ranch? We’re friends, Dick and I are. Benner’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[17]</span> -rich, but that doesn’t make any difference with Hattie. -She’s true blue, and all for me no matter what happens. -But I sure hate to have all this trouble come upon her -and her father.”</p> - -<p>The scout, still keeping the business end of the revolver -unswervingly upon Red Steve, debated the situation -in his mind.</p> - -<p>“How did Benner manage to get hold of you, Nate?” -he inquired.</p> - -<p>“I was out looking for strayed or stolen cattle,” said -Dunbar, “when half a dozen of Benner’s men jumped -me. It was in a dry wash, and the whelps rolled down -on me so quick I couldn’t do a thing. It was yesterday -this happened, and I was lugged to this dugout and -left in the hands of Red Steve.”</p> - -<p>“As scoundrelly a game as was ever played,” declared -the scout, “and it doesn’t speak very well for the cattlemen -in these parts.”</p> - -<p>“These are flush days on this part of the range,” went -on Dunbar; “anything with horns, hoofs and hide comes -pretty near being worth its weight in gold. All the barons -on the Brazos are rich, and Perry would be worth quite -a pile if the rest of the ranchers would only let him and -his stock alone. It ought to be stopped. By thunder, -it’s a disgrace the way Perry is being treated.”</p> - -<p>“You’re right,” said the scout, “this hectoring ought -to be stopped. I’ve a notion to bear a hand and help -you and Perry put an end to the lawless situation.”</p> - -<p>A scornful laugh broke from Red Steve’s lips.</p> - -<p>“You fellers ’u’d play hob puttin’ a kink in this game -o’ the cattle barons,” he taunted. “The’s half a dozen -of ’em an’ two or three hunnerd cowboys. Oh, yes, -ye’ll play hob stoppin’ ’em!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[18]</span></p> - -<p>A look of fierce helplessness crossed Nate Dunbar’s -face.</p> - -<p>“If we can’t stop the lawless work,” he cried desperately, -“there are still bushes at the trailside where a -man can lurk and pick off some of the demons who’re -causing this trouble.”</p> - -<p>“That’s not the talk for a brave young chap like you -to put up, Dunbar,” said the scout sternly. “We’ll see -what we can do to end this rough situation by more -honorable methods.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you?” demanded Dunbar, facing the scout -squarely.</p> - -<p>“Buffalo Bill is what I’m usually called,” was the -reply.</p> - -<p>The words caused a sensation. Dunbar jumped, and -stared; Red Steve also jumped, but in the direction of -the ladder.</p> - -<p>“Catch that man!” called the scout. “I’ve got a horse -outside, and I don’t want him to get away with it.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar caught Red Steve and jerked him roughly from -the ladder. The spirit seemed to have been all taken -out of Steve. His greatest desire now, it seemed, was -to keep as great a distance between him and the scout -as he could. Pushing against the earthen shelf on the -farther side of the room, he watched the scout with -weasel-like eyes.</p> - -<p>“Where were you going in such a hurry, Red Steve?” -demanded the scout.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want no truck with you, that’s all,” answered -the red-haired Texan. “I don’t want nothin’ ter do with -ye, an’ that’s flat.”</p> - -<p>“Then you were merely trying to cut loose from my -society?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[19]</span></p> - -<p>“I wanted ter git out, an’ I want ter git out now. -Why the blazes didn’t ye say ye was Buffler Bill afore? -If ye had, I’d ’a’ got out a heap quicker. D’you hold -any spite fer me drorin’ the gun on ye?”</p> - -<p>“Not a particle, Red Steve,” laughed the scout. “You -were trying to run away from here and strike a bee line -for the Brazos. You were planning to tell the cattle -barons that Buffalo Bill had shown up in this section -and was going to help Nate Dunbar and Dick Perry -regain their rancher’s rights.”</p> - -<p>“How—how’d you know that?”</p> - -<p>“I’m a good hand at guessing. I’ve no objection to -your carrying that message, Red Steve, but I’ve a horse -somewhere outside, and I didn’t want you to run off -with him. As soon as Dunbar and I leave the dugout, -you’ll be free to hike for the Brazos. Tell Benner and -the rest of the cattle barons that Buffalo Bill, as usual, -is taking the part of the under dog, that he’s going to -extend a helping hand to Nate Dunbar and the Perrys, -and that he and his pards will stay in this section long -enough to make peace on the Brazos and to shake a foot -at the wedding of Nate Dunbar and Miss Perry. All -this you’re to tell Benner, Steve, and make it plain to -him that it comes from me straight. I didn’t come loping -in here to stir up trouble, but now that I’ve found -it stirred up, I’m going to put a shoulder to the wheel -and settle it.”</p> - -<p>The scout turned to Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Have you any property in this hangout, Nate?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“That gun you took away from Red Steve belongs to -me, Buffalo Bill,” was the reply. “That’s about all I -brought with me except my clothes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[20]</span></p> - -<p>“What became of your horse?”</p> - -<p>“That was left with Red Steve’s in a swale to the -south of the hangout.”</p> - -<p>“Then, amigo, here’s your gun, and we’ll be going.”</p> - -<p>The scout motioned Dunbar toward the ladder. The -cowboy started up.</p> - -<p>“Don’t forget what I told you to tell Benner, Steve,” -cautioned the scout as he followed Dunbar. “If this -outfit of cattle barons gets in my way, we’re liable to -juggle the hatchet somewhat before we bury it.”</p> - -<p>As the scout stepped through the slanting door in the -roof, a husky laugh floated upward from Red Steve.</p> - -<p>“What do you suppose that means?” asked Buffalo -Bill of Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Why,” was the answer, “you had Steve going, down -there, an’ I reckon he feels good to see the last of you.”</p> - -<p>“You’re wide of the mark, Nate. That scoundrel -knows something that he thinks will give our work the -double cross. But,” the scout added grimly, “that’s a -bridge we’ll cross when we get to it.”</p> - -<p>Pointing to a jagged break in the roof of the dugout, -he went on:</p> - -<p>“That’s where Bear Paw broke through with his hind -hoofs, rolled me out of the saddle and dropped me below. -I hope the horse wasn’t hurt.”</p> - -<p>He whistled sharply. The shrill signal was answered -by a loud neigh and a thump of approaching hoofs. Another -moment and the gallant black was rubbing his nose -against the scout’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>“I suppose, old sport,” laughed the scout, slapping -Bear Paw’s neck, “that you hadn’t a notion what had -become of me. That’s the queerest adventure we’ve had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[21]</span> -in some sort of a while, eh? How did you come through -it, boy?”</p> - -<p>As well as he could the scout examined the horse. An -exclamation of relief escaped his lips.</p> - -<p>“His shins are skinned a little,” he announced to Dunbar, -“but he came through that affair a heap better -than I had dared to hope. Get your horse, Nate,” he -added, vaulting into the saddle, “and we’ll be touching -the high places.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar started south and vanished into a shallow -swale. The scout rode after him.</p> - -<p>“The horses are here, all right,” called Nate, “but I -can’t locate the riding gear.”</p> - -<p>“Wasn’t it taken to the dugout?” returned the scout.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t see it in there, but—Ah,” he broke off abruptly, -“here it is. I just stumbled over it.”</p> - -<p>He saddled and bridled in record time, swung a leg -over his bronk and rode to the scout’s side.</p> - -<p>“Where now, Buffalo Bill?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Take me to Perry’s ranch, Nate,” said Buffalo Bill.</p> - -<p>Impulsively Nate Dunbar reached out his hand and -gave the scout’s a grateful grip.</p> - -<p>“Let me rise to remark,” observed Nate, with a touch -of sincere feeling, “that you’re a whole man. I’m playing -in big luck to-night. There was about one chance -in a thousand that you’d break a hole in that roof—but -it’s the one chance that came my way. Dick Perry and -Hattie are about discouraged with all their troubles, but -they’ll take a fresh lease of hope when they learn that -you’re on our side.”</p> - -<p>With that, Dunbar pointed the way and set the pace.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mind saying, Dunbar,” said the scout, “that -I’ve taken a fancy to you. It’s been quite a while since<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[22]</span> -I got tangled up in a romance, and I’d find a good deal -of fault with myself if I didn’t see this one through -to a happy finish.”</p> - -<p>“You’re white,” muttered the cowboy, “plumb white. -I thought you had a lot of pards in your outfit?”</p> - -<p>“They’re at Hackamore, waiting for me.”</p> - -<p>“How many?”</p> - -<p>“Four of them—but they’re four of the sort that can’t -be picked up any day in the week. There’s Wild Bill -Hickok, of Laramie, a man who doesn’t know what fear -means, and who can lick his weight in wild cats. Then -there’s my old trapper pard, Nick Nomad, who’s a diamond -in the rough, and has gone through more tight -corners with me than I can count. Next there’s the -baron, who talks and fights with a Teutonic accent, but -steps as high, wide and handsome as any of the rest.</p> - -<p>“Last, but not least, I’ll mention Little Cayuse, the -Piute boy, who’s a host in himself. These, Dunbar, -comprise the force I can bring against the cattle barons. -The barons will outnumber us, but our work will be to -win by tact rather than by force; to compass our ends -by diplomacy, and by the strong support of the law, -which is at our back.”</p> - -<p>“What do you consider the first move in this—er—campaign -of tact and diplomacy?” queried Dunbar.</p> - -<p>He was none too sanguine, and showed it.</p> - -<p>“Inasmuch as Hattie Perry is the indirect cause of -Perry’s troubles, we must eliminate her from the proposition.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar turned in his saddle.</p> - -<p>“Eliminate her?” he gasped.</p> - -<p>The scout laughed.</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” he declared. “Within a few days—or<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[23]</span> -hours, if we can arrange it so—there will be no Hattie -Perry.”</p> - -<p>“I’m over my head,” muttered Dunbar. “How are -you going about it?”</p> - -<p>“A sky pilot will be the key to the situation. Just as -soon as possible, my lad, he will make you and Miss -Perry one. The girl will cease to be Miss Perry, and -will become Mrs. Dunbar. Lige Benner will be foiled. -Simple, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“Well, blazes!” murmured Dunbar, but with a flutter -of happiness in his voice. “That’s sure the correct way -to go at it, and yet I’m blamed if I ever thought of such -a move.”</p> - -<p>“I should think it would have occurred to you the first -thing. Where’s the nearest sky pilot?”</p> - -<p>“His headquarters are in Henrietta, but he rides circuit -over a good part of this Brazos range. He was due -in Hackamore yesterday.”</p> - -<p>“How long does he stay there?”</p> - -<p>“Why, long enough to round up the boys and tell ’em -what to do to travel the straight and narrow trail. He’s -a man, that sky pilot is, and a good friend of Perry’s and -mine. His name’s Jordan.”</p> - -<p>“Well, as soon as we get to the ranch we’ll lay the -proposition before Perry and Hattie; then we’ll all ride -over to Hackamore, and you and the girl will take the -momentous step. I’ve a notion that that will settle everything -and bring peace and happiness on the Brazos.”</p> - -<p>For an hour the scout and the cowboy rode briskly -through the moonlight. At the end of that time they -reached the bank of the Brazos, and drew up at the door -of a comfortable log cabin.</p> - -<p>Silence reigned around the ranch house. No glimmer<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[24]</span> -of light showed through its small windows, and there -was no sign of life in the vicinity.</p> - -<p>“I don’t savvy this layout,” muttered Dunbar forebodingly.</p> - -<p>“Why,” returned the scout, “it’s late. Perry and the -rest have gone to bed.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar tumbled out of the saddle and threw open the -door. The scout, still sitting on his horse, heard the cowboy -moving around in the cabin and stumbling over -chairs and other pieces of furniture. Presently a glow -of light came through the open door. Looking into the -big room, the scout saw chairs overturned and the whole -interior in disorder.</p> - -<p>The cowboy ran to the door.</p> - -<p>“Something’s happened here, Buffalo Bill!” he cried -excitedly. “There’s been a fight of some kind in the -house, and Perry and Hattie have disappeared. Fiend -take the scoundrels! Benner and the barons are back of -this!”</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill dismounted hurriedly and ran into the -cabin. He saw at a glance that the place had been the -scene of recent violence and that some rascally work had -been carried out.</p> - -<p>“Put up the horses, my lad,” said he calmly to Dunbar, -“and then come in and we’ll do some figuring. Keep -your nerve, Nate. If you go to pieces, you won’t be able -to give me the help I need.”</p> - -<p>While the cowboy was taking care of the horses, Buffalo -Bill surveyed the interior of the cabin. The fine -softening touch of a woman’s hand was everywhere -visible. Over a table hung a book rack with a little -treasury of well-worn volumes.</p> - -<p>A lamp stood on the table, and on the side of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[25]</span> -table nearest the lamp a rocking-chair was overturned. -An open book lay on the floor.</p> - -<p>The scout picked up the book, and found that it was -a copy of “Paul and Virginia.” He laid the book on the -floor where he had found it.</p> - -<p>There were yarn mottoes on the walls, framed in -pine cones: “God Bless Our Home,” “Haste Makes -Waste,” and “The Lord Loveth a Cheerful Giver.”</p> - -<p>Something in those trite and homely sentiments -touched the scout’s heart. The books and mottoes bespoke -character—character that seemed out of place in -that rough country—character that should not have been -entangled in such a web of treachery and violence as had -been thrown about the Perrys.</p> - -<p>The scout opened one of two doors that were in the -rear of the room, and carried the lamp into the kitchen. -Here everything was in apple-pie order. Dishes were -neatly arranged in a crude box cupboard, and the floor -was as clean as a hickory-splint broom could make it. -He tried the kitchen door, and found it locked.</p> - -<p>Returning to the living room, he found Nate Dunbar -standing in the middle of it and looking around dejectedly.</p> - -<p>“They’ve been run off,” he declared hopelessly; “that’s -what’s happened! If any harm comes to Hattie,” and -here his voice fell husky and murderous, “I’ll camp on -Lige Benner’s trail—<em>and I’ll get him</em>.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t try to take the law into your own hands, Nate,” -said the scout. “We’ll dig up all the information we can -here, and then we’ll lay our plans. Who does most of the -reading in this cabin?”</p> - -<p>“Hattie. Those books are all hers.” Dunbar waved -a trembling hand toward the shelf over the table.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[26]</span></p> - -<p>The scout picked up an overturned chair, and seated -himself.</p> - -<p>“Miss Perry was here, sitting in the rocking-chair by -the lamp and reading,” said he. “Some one came here -and took her and her father away by force. It hardly -seems to me as though these cattle barons, lawless though -they are, would have dared to go to such extremes. -They may be back of what has happened, but some of -their hirelings did the work.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar reeled against the wall, and caught his head -in his hands.</p> - -<p>“Tact and diplomacy!” he bitterly exclaimed. “How -can you use weapons like those against such a pack of -scoundrels? Cold steel is what they need! By Heaven, -it’s only a two hours’ gallop to Benner’s! I’ll go there -and make him answer for this!”</p> - -<p>The cowboy jumped from the wall, and started for -the door.</p> - -<p>“Dunbar!”</p> - -<p>There was a compelling note in the scout’s voice. The -cowboy halted, and turned his haggard face.</p> - -<p>“Sit down!” ordered the scout. “If I and my pards -are to help you, I want you to keep a cool head, and not -go off on any fool tangent. You can be of assistance to -me—but only by showing a different spirit.”</p> - -<p>“Buffalo Bill,” cried Dunbar, “if you had seen the -Perrys tramped on and mistreated as I have, you’d be -murder mad just as I am over this last outrage.”</p> - -<p>“Two wrongs never made a right, Nate.”</p> - -<p>“Right! Who talks of right on the Brazos? These -barons are jumping on right and justice rough shod, and -what they need is a taste of their own medicine.”</p> - -<p>“They’ll get it, Nate, but they’ll get it in my way.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[27]</span> -There’ll be no parlor tactics, and when we hit it will -be straight from the shoulder. But this talk of cold -steel begs the whole question. Sit down and be -sensible.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar, with an effort, got the whip hand of himself.</p> - -<p>“Isn’t there any one living in the cabin but Perry and -his daughter?” went on the scout.</p> - -<p>“No. I’ve been putting up here along with Dick and -Hattie.”</p> - -<p>“Where are the cowboys?”</p> - -<p>“All gone—but me. They were scared off by the -barons—scared off or bought off, I don’t know which. -When I failed to get back yesterday, maybe Dick and -Hattie thought I’d been bought off, too.”</p> - -<p>“No, they didn’t. I’ve only known you for a few -hours, Dunbar, but even that short acquaintance has -convinced me that you’ve no yellow streak in your make-up. -Perry and his daughter have known you a good -deal longer than I have, and they’d never think you had -turned traitor to their interests. How many cattle have -you and Perry?”</p> - -<p>“Perry came in here with a thousand head, but there’s -no telling how many of our brand we could round up -now. The herd has been rustled right and left.”</p> - -<p>The scout was thoughtful for a few moments.</p> - -<p>“What sort of a man is Perry?” he asked finally.</p> - -<p>“The clear quill and as straight as a die.”</p> - -<p>“Fighter?”</p> - -<p>“As game a fighter as you can find. If he hadn’t been -he’d have left the Brazos a month ago. But he’s too -honest, too finely strung to handle a gang like the cattle -barons, even if he had a large enough force behind him. -Perry is an educated man, Buffalo Bill.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[28]</span></p> - -<p>“So I imagined. He hasn’t made the other cattlemen -think that he’s better than they are, has he?”</p> - -<p>“Not on your life! That ain’t Perry’s style. He’d -be neighborly, if they’d let him.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe,” said the scout, “that Perry was here -when his daughter was taken away. There’d have been -shooting, wouldn’t there?”</p> - -<p>“Right off the reel,” answered Dunbar promptly. -“Perry would have gone any length to defend himself.”</p> - -<p>“There are no signs to indicate that revolvers were -used. I suppose Perry kept his guns handy?”</p> - -<p>“Always—since the barons turned loose on him.”</p> - -<p>“Then here’s the way I figure it: You failed to come -back to the cabin yesterday. Perry and Hattie believed -that you had been trapped by Benner’s men. Perry went -off to look for you. While he was gone, the trouble happened -here. Perry may get back any minute, Dunbar, -and then he can help us do our planning. Are there -any horses in the corral?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>The cowboy was moody. He could see the logic of the -scout’s suggestions, but he was not in a temper to be -sanguine over results.</p> - -<p>“How far is Benner’s ranch from here?” asked the -scout.</p> - -<p>“Twenty miles.” Dunbar showed some interest. “Are -you thinking of going over there?”</p> - -<p>“Not yet. We’ll give Perry a chance to get back here -first. How long have you been hooked up with Perry, -Nate?”</p> - -<p>“Nearly a year. I came here from the Panhandle -country, and Perry had just bought out the Star-A -steers. He wanted a foreman, and I took hold. Later<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[29]</span> -on, when I saw how the other cattlemen were layin’ -for him, I dropped a thousand-dollar stake into the pot. -It was all I had. I reckoned, though, that I’d show -Benner he had two to buck against. He had tried to -hire me away from Perry, and the thousand I put up -here was an answer to that.”</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill was liking the young fellow more and -more. Nevertheless, he was not overlooking the powerful -influence Hattie Perry must have had with Nate -Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“You’re all right, Nate,” said the scout. “The situation -on the Brazos has reached a climax, and everything -depends on the way you stack up from this on.”</p> - -<p>“But we can’t do what you thought of while we were -riding from Red Steve’s.”</p> - -<p>“You mean that about the sky pilot, and eliminating -Miss Perry as a factor in the trouble? That is still the -work we must do, Nate, so it follows that our next -step must be to find Miss Perry.”</p> - -<p>“Why should those infernal scoundrels carry her off?” -cried the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“That was done, I believe, simply to frighten you and -Perry, and force Perry to agree to Benner’s proposals.”</p> - -<p>“Perry never’d agree!”</p> - -<p>“At any rate, I’m sure the young lady has suffered -no harm, and that she will be considerately treated. We -must rescue her. With my pards to help, I’m sure we -can accomplish that part of it.”</p> - -<p>“But suppose Perry delays getting back? We ought -to be doing something for Hattie right now.”</p> - -<p>The scout pointed to the “Haste and Waste” motto -on the wall.</p> - -<p>“Keep that prominently before your eyes, Dunbar,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[30]</span> -admonished the scout. “If we get in too much of a -hurry we may spoil everything. If Perry doesn’t come -within an hour or two, I’ll send you to Hackamore after -my pards. They ought to be here by sunup.”</p> - -<p>“Then what’s to be done?”</p> - -<p>“Why, then we’ll ride to Benner’s ranch.”</p> - -<p>“Hattie won’t be there. He wouldn’t take Hattie -there.”</p> - -<p>“Of course he wouldn’t, but if he has had anything to -do with spiriting the girl away from this cabin, we’ll find -out about it and get him to tell us where she is.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar shook his head doubtfully.</p> - -<p>“If you and your pards go to Benner’s ranch, Buffalo -Bill,” said he, “you’ll be right in the midst of the whole -gang. There’s enough of the outfit to smother you and -your pards ten deep.”</p> - -<p>The scout smiled.</p> - -<p>“I reckon you don’t know much about my pards,” -said he.</p> - -<p>At that moment the beat of horse’s hoofs were heard, -swiftly approaching. Both the scout and the cowboy -jumped to their feet.</p> - -<p>“Perry!” exclaimed the scout, starting for the door.</p> - -<p>As he stood in front of the cabin, the lamplight pouring -through the open door at his back, a horseman drew -to a halt.</p> - -<p>“Well, by gorry!” the rider exclaimed, in a flutter of -astonishment. “Have I got the blind staggers? Pard -Cody, is that you?”</p> - -<p>The surprise was mutual.</p> - -<p>“There’s no mistake, Wild Bill,” answered the scout, -as pleased as he was surprised. “Get down and tell me -what brings you here.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[31]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.<br /> -<span class="fs70">FLUSH DAYS IN TEXAS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The Texas steer, with the long horns and the brand -bigger than a gridiron, has passed away. With this half-wild -“beef critter” has likewise passed the old-time grizzle-faced -herder with his cowhide boots and appalling -profanity. Grade shorthorns, Herefords, and other -swells in the kingdom of range cattle have taken the -longhorn’s place, and the present-day cattleman is a -keen, shrewd business man who has reduced cattle raising -and feeding to a science.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the elimination of the longhorn and the picturesque -soldier of circumstance who looked after him is -not a subject for regret; yet in the early days—the days -of this chronicle—the rangy steer of the wide horns was -bringing a flood of wealth into Texas. Those were -really flush days for the cattle barons.</p> - -<p>In those boom times, ranchers whose principal asset -was cattle, had more money than they had ever possessed -before—and more, it is said, than they have ever -had since. Just what caused the boom was a mystery; -nevertheless, the boom was a very real event, and some -of the barons took in more money than they knew how -to spend. When such a thing happens to a free and -easy-going people, foolish extravagance is the result.</p> - -<p>This sort of extravagance, therefore, took the cattle -country by the throat, and shook a golden stream out of -its pockets. Now and then a cigar was lighted with a -ten-dollar bill—whenever a baron wished to be particularly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[32]</span> -spectacular. It may not have proved that the -ranchers had money to burn, yet it proved that they did -burn it nevertheless.</p> - -<p>Many of the ranchers burned their money in “sparks,” -otherwise diamonds, paying three or four times what the -stones were worth per karat. There was much rivalry -in the possession of these gems. If a baron’s neighbor -flashed a gem as big as a Mexican bean on his little -finger, then the other baron made haste to get one as big -as a lima bean and display it ostentatiously.</p> - -<p>A class of peddlers was brought into being, by this -desire of the barons for jewels, whose like had never -been known before and probably will never be known -again. Hebrews with satchels traveled the cow country, -each satchel containing a king’s ransom in diamonds. -These stones were peddled from ranch to ranch. The -idea of a man toting from one hundred thousand to -two hundred thousand dollars’ worth of diamonds -through the range lands, alone and unattended and yet -without molestation, formed rather a strange commentary -on those wild and troublous times. Yet this -was one angle of the situation in the flush days.</p> - -<p>When the craze for diamonds had died out, the barons -developed another hobby. This time their barbaric fancy -ran to watches, watch charms, and chains.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, old Nomad and Little Cayuse reached -Hackamore in time to witness an object lesson in the -reckless extravagance of the time and place. They were -in the town many hours before Buffalo Bill had dropped -through the roof of the dugout; in fact, they had -reached Hackamore in ample time to put out their horses -and sit in at dinner in the shack hotel.</p> - -<p>The baron was not with them. He had heard of a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[33]</span> -German rancher, living five miles out of Hackamore, -and had separated from his pards to make the rancher’s -acquaintance and gossip for a while in the language of -the fatherland. Whenever the baron met a fellow countryman, -there always followed a talkfest—and the baron -would go many miles out of his way for a talkfest.</p> - -<p>Dinner over, Wild Bill, Nomad, and Cayuse strolled -out into Hackamore’s main street. Their legs were -cramped from much saddle work and needed stretching. -Also, anything in the nature of a town appealed to them -after miles of lonely plains and unoccupied wilderness.</p> - -<p>Hackamore was a mighty poor apology for a town, -yet it had a huddle of buildings which formed a nucleus -for people—and it was buildings and people the pards -were eager to see.</p> - -<p>There was a crowd in the street in front of the hotel.</p> - -<p>“What’s the trouble?” asked Wild Bill of a lanky individual -who was leaning against a post and picking his -teeth with a sliver.</p> - -<p>“Aw, shucks!” answered the lank person; “Lige Benner -an’ Hank Phelps aire cuttin’ capers with their jewelry. -All dumb foolishness, but I allow it kain’t be -helped.”</p> - -<p>The long Texan nibbled at a bar of tobacco, and settled -back against the post with a resigned air.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill elbowed his way through the crowd and -came upon the two cattlemen.</p> - -<p>Hank Phelps wore a high Mexican hat with tinkling -silver ornaments festooned around the brim. His jacket -was short, his trousers flared at the bottoms, and his -waist was begirt with a gaudy sash. Phelps was American, -through and through, but Mexican clothes were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[34]</span> -more spectacular, and for this reason alone he wore -them.</p> - -<p>Lige Benner affected black. His black sombrero was -set off with a twisted silver cord; there was a flowing -white tie under the collar of his black silk shirt, and the -bottoms of his black trousers were thrust into the tops -of knee boots of patent leather. There were ornate -silver spurs at the heels of the boots.</p> - -<p>When close enough, the Laramie man saw that the -buttons on Phelps’ short jacket were set with diamonds.</p> - -<p>“Ugh!” muttered Wild Bill. “I wonder where they -left the rest of their show? They’re got up like heroes -in a blue-fire melodrama.”</p> - -<p>“Did you speak?” demanded Benner, whirling on Wild -Bill.</p> - -<p>“I did,” answered Wild Bill. “You’re in mourning for -somebody. Tell me who, and we’ll both weep.”</p> - -<p>A gleam crept into Benner’s eyes. But he whirled -away without giving further notice to the Laramie man.</p> - -<p>“Look at this turnip, Hank,” said Benner, taking a -watch from his pocket and passing it to the other baron -for inspection.</p> - -<p>Phelps took the timepiece and turned it over and over -in his hands.</p> - -<p>It was big and of an eighteen-karat yellow. There -was a steer’s head engraved on the front, and a prairie -scene on the back. The steer’s eyes were diamonds. -The chain was as large as a steel hawser, and the -dangling charm was massive and encrusted with -“sparks.”</p> - -<p>“Um!” mused Phelps. “How much did you pay for -this timepiece, Lige?”</p> - -<p>“Five hundred,” was the careless answer.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[35]</span></p> - -<p>Phelps handed back the watch and pulled another -from somewhere under his short jacket.</p> - -<p>“I got one that’s just as good, an’ it only cost me four -hundred.”</p> - -<p>Benner pondered for a moment.</p> - -<p>“Say, Hank,” said he, as a bright idea gathered in -his brain. “I’ll bet a hundred I can throw my watch -farther down the street than you can throw yours.”</p> - -<p>“Well, great horn-toads!” muttered the Laramie man. -“I wonder how far it is to the nearest asylum for the -feeble-minded.”</p> - -<p>“Did you speak?” asked Hank Phelps, whirling on -Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“I did. I was wondering if they throw in a watch -with every suit of greaser clothes they sell in this -town?”</p> - -<p>“Buy a suit and find out!”</p> - -<p>“Whoosh! With all those diamond buttons? Mañana!”</p> - -<p>Phelps, with a disgusted flirt of the shoulders, turned -to Benner.</p> - -<p>“Go you,” he said brusquely.</p> - -<p>The money was flashed in a minute, another baron -offering himself as stakeholder. The street was cleared -down the middle, a long line of men grouped on either -side.</p> - -<p>A dollar was flipped into the air to see which should -throw first. Benner won the toss.</p> - -<p>Meanwhile, Wild Bill had been working out a mental -problem. He measured Benner’s height and guessed at -the possible strength of his arm; then he guessed at -the weight of the watch. With these items to work on,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[36]</span> -he found a place down the street where he believed -Benner’s watch would land.</p> - -<p>The Laramie man was prompted by curiosity alone. -He wanted to see how much would be left of the expensive -timekeeper when it hit the ground.</p> - -<p>Benner drew back his arm. For a second, Wild Bill -doubted whether he would keep his nerve and go on -with his folly. But there was no backing down on the -part of the cattle baron.</p> - -<p>The hand came forward and the five-hundred dollar -missile shot through the air, reflecting the sun like a -live coal. It smashed to earth within a yard of where -Wild Bill stood.</p> - -<p>“Hooray for the man in black!” roared Wild Bill. -“I had a notion he wouldn’t be fool enough to throw—but -he was.”</p> - -<p>“Hesh, neighbor!” said a Texan, who stood close to -Wild Bill. “Don’t ye go fer ter git Lige Benner down -on ye. He’s a power in these parts, an’ he won’t stand -fer any funnin’.”</p> - -<p>“No?” returned the Laramie man. “Well, I didn’t -know they raised such trash in this part of the Lone -Star State.”</p> - -<p>At the head of the double line of spectators stood -Hank Phelps, ready to sacrifice his own timepiece. -There was no backing down for him, of course. He -stood to win a hundred—by smashing a four-hundred-dollar -watch. Profitable business! Anyhow, the crowd -expected Hank Phelps to make good his side of the -bet, and Hank Phelps wasn’t the man to let another -outdo him.</p> - -<p>The second watch shimmered along through the air -and dropped into the dust a foot beyond Benner’s.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[37]</span></p> - -<p>“Phelps has won!” roared the crowd. “The money -belongs ter Phelps!”</p> - -<p>The condition of those superb tickers was enough to -make a blacksmith weep. The works had fallen out of -Benner’s watch and rolled on into the dust. Phelps’ -timepiece was crushed.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, however, had lost interest in the condition -of the watches. A small square of paper had fallen -from Benner’s watch with the works. The Laramie man -had picked up the paper with the intention of returning -it. There was writing on the small square. One glance -at the writing was enough to make Wild Bill change -his mind about handing the scrap to the owner of the -watch. Instead of doing that, he pushed through the -clamoring crowd in a hurried hunt for old Nomad.</p> - -<p>Some people have a habit of carrying important memoranda -inside their watch cases. Properly inscribed on -thin paper, notes may be easily carried under the lid of -a timepiece, the watch thus answering, in a way, for a -secret pocket.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill figured that Benner had been using his -five-hundred-dollar watch for this purpose, and that, in -the excitement of his wager with Phelps, he had forgotten -the paper.</p> - -<p>The breaking of the watch had released the scrap. -The Laramie man, as we have seen, had picked it up, -glanced at it, changed his mind about handing it over -to Benner, and begun a search for the trapper.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill found old Nomad standing in front of the -hotel airing his opinion, in no uncertain language, about -using watches for missiles when stones were so handy.</p> - -<p>“Waugh!” rumbled Nomad, holding forth to a little -group that had formed about him, “they ort ter lock<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[38]</span> -up fellers what does things like thet. Only a couple -o’ ijuts would make sich er locoed play, anyways. Sufferin’ -hyeners! Ain’t ther any fool killers eround these -hyar parts?”</p> - -<p>“Ye’d better stow yer guff,” cautioned a man in the -crowd. “Them fellers aire cattle barons. If some o’ -their punchers was ter hear ye, they might turn loose -with their guns. Punchers is touchy, that-a-way.”</p> - -<p>“I’m some techy myself, pilgrim, when et comes ter -playin’ baseball with five-hunnerd-dollar tickers.”</p> - -<p>At that moment Wild Bill stepped up and caught the -old trapper by the arm.</p> - -<p>“Trail along with me,” said the Laramie man. “I’ve -got something important to talk over with you.”</p> - -<p>There was a crowd in the hotel office, so the pards -did not go in. Instead of entering the hotel, they went -around behind.</p> - -<p>“What’s ter pay, Wild Bill?” queried Nomad. “I -jedge thar’s er screw loose, from ther looks o’ yer -face.”</p> - -<p>“You saw those ombrays throw the watches?” returned -Hickok.</p> - -<p>“Waugh! I was jest airin’ my opinions erbout thet -fool pufformance when ye blowed up an’ made me break -off. I reckon I could hev worked up er fight with -some o’ them fellers ef ye’d ’a’ let me alone fer a minute -longer.”</p> - -<p>“Benner smashed his watch good and plenty, Nick. -The works rolled out of the case, and a scrap of paper -rolled out with the works.”</p> - -<p>“Whatever was a scrap o’ paper doin’ in er watch?”</p> - -<p>“This scrap had writing on it. More than likely Benner -tucked it away under the watch lid for safe-keeping.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[39]</span> -I picked it up and was going to give it to him; -then I glanced at the paper and changed my mind.”</p> - -<p>“Ye had a reason fer changin’ yore mind, I’ll bet a -stack o’ blues!” exclaimed the old trapper, with growing -interest. “What was et?”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill lifted his right hand, palm upward, and -opened his fingers. The little square scrap lay in the -palm.</p> - -<p>“It’s a corner torn off a playing card, Nick,” said the -Laramie man. “Here’s what’s written on it.”</p> - -<p>The writing was in a fine hand and Hickok lifted it -closer to his eyes as he read:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="noindent">“Dick Perry captured and held at my place. It’s a -risky game, and I want you to come over in the -morning and take him away.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Finishing the reading, Hickok minced the scrap fine -and flung the pieces away.</p> - -<p>“H’m,” mused the trapper. “Thet sounds like underhand -doin’s, all right, an’ yit, I dunno what bizness we -got mixin’ in.”</p> - -<p>“You got to have a good excuse for every blamed -thing?” asked the Laramie man, with gentle irony. “I -don’t believe Pard Cody will get here from Texico before -some time to-morrow. Do you want to sit around -and cool your heels till he comes, or would you like -a little excitement by way of passing the time?”</p> - -<p>“Snarlin’ catermounts, Hickok!” growled Nomad, “ye -know I’m allers ripe an’ ready fer anythin’ with ginger -in et, but we ain’t got much of er holt on the bizness -thet consarns thet scrap o’ paper. Whose watch was -et in?”</p> - -<p>“Benner’s—the ombray in the black clothes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[40]</span></p> - -<p>“Who sent et ter him? Thet’s the p’int.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know who sent it to him, and that isn’t the -point. This Dick Perry is the bank that gets our gilt. -Why was he captured? Why was the capture risky business? -Why is Benner to take Dick Perry away in the -morning?”</p> - -<p>Nomad removed his hat and ran his fingers through -his long hair.</p> - -<p>“Pass ther ante, Wild Bill,” he replied. “Thar’s a -hull lot erbout thet scrap o’ paper I don’t know, an’ I -reckon thar’s a hull lot you don’t.”</p> - -<p>“We can find out a little. Wait here a minute.”</p> - -<p>The Laramie man disappeared around the front of -the hotel. When he came back, which was only two or -three minutes later, he was towing the lanky Texan -whom he had seen leaning against the post just before -the cattle barons performed with their watches.</p> - -<p>“Whatever d’ye want with me, neighbor?” queried the -Texan.</p> - -<p>“You’re acquainted pretty well in this section?” asked -Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Tollable.”</p> - -<p>“What’s your label?”</p> - -<p>“Sim Pierce. Come from San Antone, ’riginally. -Mebby ye’ve heerd tell o’ the Pierces o’ San Antone?”</p> - -<p>“No. My name’s Hickok, and this is my pard, old -Nomad. We belong with Buffalo Bill’s outfit of trouble-chasers.”</p> - -<p>“Shucks!” muttered Sim Pierce. “I’ve heerd of all -o’ ye. Tickled plumb through ter make yer acquaintance.”</p> - -<p>They shook hands elaborately.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[41]</span></p> - -<p>“What we want,” said Wild Bill, “is to get a little -information.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, let ’er go. If I got the brand ye want, et’s -on tap.”</p> - -<p>“Do you know a man called Dick Perry?”</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce gave a jump that almost unjointed his -shambling frame.</p> - -<p>“Sure I know him,” said he. “But why?”</p> - -<p>He squinted his eyes apprehensively at Wild Bill. -From his manner, the Laramie man knew that he had -opened up a pay streak that it would pay to develop.</p> - -<p>“I’m just asking for information, that’s all,” said Wild -Bill.</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce seemed very much disturbed. After -squinting around him apprehensively, he went on in a -lowered voice.</p> - -<p>“Come out flatfooted, neighbor, an’ tell me whether -ye’re inquirin’ as a friend o’ Perry’s er a friend o’ the -cattle baron?”</p> - -<p>“Cattle barons? Which cattle barons?”</p> - -<p>“Principally Benner an’ Phelps, them fellers that -throwed the watches.”</p> - -<p>“Pard,” rumbled Nomad, with an expression of profound -disgust, “don’t fer a minit reckon we’re friends -o’ them locoed rawhides, kase we ain’t. Us fellers hes -got some self-respect. Ye hurt my dignity a hull lot -by askin’ whether we’re friends o’ them fool mavericks.”</p> - -<p>“Then, I take it,” pursued Sim Pierce, still with his -air of mystery, “thet ye’re friendly ter Perry? The feller -needs friends, an’ I reckon I’m the only one he’s got -in this town, less’n it is the sky pilot, Jordan, who -breezes in here oncet a month on his gospel circuit. But -I ain’t talkin’ erbout my friendship fer Perry so’st every<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[42]</span> -one kin hear. Not me. I got too much regyard fer my -health.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter with Perry?”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’, only the barons aire down on him.”</p> - -<p>“Why are they down on him?”</p> - -<p>“Kain’t savvy, but they’re makin’ life hard fer Perry, -an’ no mistake. They’re tryin’ ter freeze him out o’ the -grazin’ lands on the Brazos.”</p> - -<p>“This Perry is straight goods?”</p> - -<p>“Straight as a string.”</p> - -<p>“And the cattle barons have got it in for him, and -are trying to kick him out of these parts?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the way the land lays.”</p> - -<p>“Then I’m his friend right from the drop of the hat!”</p> - -<p>“Me, too!” chimed in old Nomad. “Them watch-slingers -hev showed their calibre a-plenty, so fur’s I’m -consarned. I’m fer Perry.”</p> - -<p>“Then stand right hyer an’ hold yer bronks a spell,” -whispered Sim Pierce.</p> - -<p>He vanished toward the front of the hotel. In less -than five minutes he came back, bringing with him a -slightly built, boyish-looking chap in a long, black coat.</p> - -<p>“Gents,” said Sim Pierce, flourishing one of his long -arms, “this here’s the Reverend Ben Jordan. He’s a gospel -sharp, but it ain’t struck in enough so’t it hurts. -He’s one o’ the boys, Ben Jordan is. He’s done more -ter chase the devil off this range than ary other man in -Texas.”</p> - -<p>The Reverend Ben Jordan laughed. It was a whole-souled, -hearty laugh that made Nomad and Wild Bill -his friends right from the jump.</p> - -<p>“There’s a good deal of the devil still left on the range, -Sim,” said the sky pilot, “in spite of my efforts. These<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[43]</span> -gentlemen are Wild Bill and old Nomad, I believe you -said, pards of Buffalo Bill’s?”</p> - -<p>“Kerect,” answered Pierce.</p> - -<p>Jordan grabbed Wild Bill’s hand, and then Nomad’s.</p> - -<p>“I’m mighty glad to meet up with you,” said the sky -pilot. “I’m an admirer of Buffalo Bill’s—an unknown -admirer—and to meet his compadres is a pleasure I shall -long remember. Sim says you gentlemen are also friends -of Dick Perry’s. I’m glad of that, too. Perry, just now, -needs all his friends. If——”</p> - -<p>At that moment, Lige Benner and Hank Phelps came -hurrying around the end of the hotel.</p> - -<p>“There he is!” cried Benner, pointing to Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Make him give up!” called Phelps.</p> - -<p>Old Nomad edged around to Wild Bill’s side, and the -pards presented a solid front. Benner and Phelps slackened -pace. They were not in so much of a hurry as -they had been, but they still had something on their -minds—something that wasn’t pleasant.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[44]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE SKY PILOT TAKES A HAND.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“Did you say something?” asked Wild Bill, looking -the cattle barons over with a grin which he made as -irritating as possible.</p> - -<p>“You were seen to pick up somethin’ in the road,” -said Benner angrily, “somethin’ that came out of my -watch. I want it.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you do. You’ll have to go into details a little -more if you expect me to identify what you’ve lost. -Was there anything but the works that came out of that -watch?”</p> - -<p>“You know mighty well there was!” scowled Benner.</p> - -<p>“I know mighty well that you’ve got to tell me what -you lost before I can tell you whether or not I know -anything about it.”</p> - -<p>“That is very reasonable, Mr. Benner,” put in the sky -pilot. “It is necessary for——”</p> - -<p>“Dry up!” interrupted Phelps roughly. “You ain’t -got a thing to do with this, Jordan, so you keep out.”</p> - -<p>“What have you got to do with it, Mr. Phelps?” -queried the sky pilot pleasantly. “I thought it was Mr. -Benner who had lost something.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I’ve got plenty to do with it!” snorted Phelps, -giving his head a flirt that set all the dangling brim -ornaments to clattering. “I sent him what he lost.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill was exceedingly glad to hear this, although -he made no sign, to that effect.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[45]</span></p> - -<p>“We’ve used our bazoos a-plenty,” growled Benner. -“Are you going to give me that?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“I’ll give you a piece of my mind, in a minute, if you -don’t tell me what you want, and what you think I’ve -got,” said Wild Bill, between his teeth.</p> - -<p>“Waugh!” chimed in the old trapper, who had been -keeping silent only by a great effort. “Ef ye git too -rantankerous, I’ll hand ye a fistful of five, with my -compliments. We ain’t thieves, we ain’t. We’re pards o’ -Buffler Bill’s, an’ no measly, locoed watch manglers -aire goin’ ter insult us.”</p> - -<p>Old Nomad looked so hostile that Benner cast a look -around him as though searching for some of his cowboys.</p> - -<p>“What I’m after,” he went on, less truculently, “is a -piece of paper with some very important notes on it. I -carried the paper under the lid of my watch, and I forgot -to remove it when I threw the watch.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me what was on the paper,” insisted Wild Bill. -“I picked up something that wasn’t addressed or signed, -and that might have been dropped by any man, woman -or child in Hackamore. You tell me what was on the -paper, Benner—this paper that Phelps sent to you—and -if it matches what I read, I’ll tell you where the paper -is.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill had the cattle barons in a corner. Neither -would dare to repeat the contents of that piece of paper. -It was the sort of writing that could not be turned -into public talk without exciting comment.</p> - -<p>“I was told you picked up the paper,” said Benner, -with a fierce look at the Laramie man, “an’ you know -well enough that it dropped out o’ my watch. There’s no<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[46]</span> -need of talking about what was written in the note—it -was private, anyway.”</p> - -<p>Phelps, meanwhile, had seen the little scraps lying on -the ground. From these he must have inferred what -had happened to Benner’s memoranda. Catching his -companion’s arm, Phelps drew him to one side and -whispered to him. Benner swept a look over the ground -at the minced fragments of the bit of thin pasteboard, -then lifted his eyes to Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“You’ll find, my man,” he cried, “that Lige Benner has -some power up and down the Brazos. This ain’t the -end of this flare-up.”</p> - -<p>With that, he whirled around and he and Phelps vanished -in the direction of the street.</p> - -<p>“Waugh!” breathed the old trapper regretfully, “another -chance fer a fight gone a-glimmerin’. Ain’t et -possible fer us ter git inter a scrap noways?”</p> - -<p>The sky pilot dropped a hand on his arm.</p> - -<p>“You’re too gallant a man, Nomad,” said he, “to get -into a fight for the mere love of it. It’s a sign of barbarism -for men to be too free with their fists and their -hardware.”</p> - -<p>“I jest dote on barbarism,” carolled Nomad. “I’m -plumb savage, elder, an’ I got ter hev a set-to oncet er -day er git bilious.”</p> - -<p>The sky pilot laughed genially and thumped the old -war horse on the back.</p> - -<p>“You’re a man after my own heart,” he declared, “and -I can see that; what’s more, you’re about as barbarous -as a chipmunk until your fur is ruffled the wrong way. -I wouldn’t give two cents for a man who hadn’t the sand -to stick up for his rights. Brother, you and I are going<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[47]</span> -to get along. Now, tell me what you’ve found out about -the Perrys.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill and Nomad were taking a big liking to -Jordan. He was vastly different from most circuit-riding -ministers they had met.</p> - -<p>“Where’s Sim Pierce?” queried Wild Bill, looking -around for that worthy.</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce had mysteriously vanished.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” smiled Jordan, “Sim lit out. He’s careful of -his health, you know, and he didn’t want Benner and -Phelps to catch him fraternizing with you. These cattle -barons seem to be a law unto themselves on the Brazos, -and most of the people in these parts try to keep on -the good side of them. But never mind Sim. Tell me -about the Perrys.”</p> - -<p>Feeling that here was a man to be trusted to the -limit, Wild Bill told him about the paper that had dropped -from Benner’s watch. A thoughtful frown crept over -the sky pilot’s face as the Laramie man repeated the -contents of the paper.</p> - -<p>“The barons have been getting more and more reckless -in their dealings with Perry,” said Jordan; “they -have gone from one lawless act to another until now they -have captured him and taken him away. Phelps admitted -that he had sent that note to Benner; and that -means, my friends, that Perry is being held a prisoner at -Phelps’ ranch.”</p> - -<p>“Whoop-ya!” murmured the trapper. “S’posin’ we -ride out ter Phelps’ place an’ lift Perry’s blockade? What -d’ye say? Et’s er noble deed, an’ mebbyso et’ll lead ter -a ruction.”</p> - -<p>“Will you be guided by me, my friends?” asked the -sky pilot earnestly. “I am familiar with the situation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[48]</span> -along this part of the Brazos, and I know pretty nearly -everybody in this part of the country. Perhaps, equipped -as I am, I can judge better than you what is best to be -done.”</p> - -<p>“Throw et up ter us, elder. Any palaver ye kin hand -out will receive full attention.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you. Don’t try to go to Phelps’ ranch this -side of dewfall. Wait till night comes. From now on, -Benner and Phelps will have both of you men watched. -The barons know you got that note, and they can guess -that you read it and then tore it up. If you try to go -to Phelps’ before night, there’ll be trouble, and you’ll get -the worst of it.”</p> - -<p>“We’re not dodging trouble so you can notice it, -amigo,” returned Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“I hope, for Dick Perry’s sake, that you will dodge -trouble, and keep your hands clear so that you can help -him. Will you give me a part in the work before you?”</p> - -<p>This was embarrassing to the pards—to have a minister -along with them when the prospects were bright -for rough work.</p> - -<p>“I’ll not be a hindrance to you,” continued Jordan, -noting the pards’ hesitation, “but, on the other hand, my -familiarity with the country may prove a help. I have -a marriage ceremony for four o’clock; after that, I’ll -join you at supper at the hotel. Following supper, we’ll -saddle up and ride toward Phelps’ ranch. On the way, -we’ll stop at Perry’s. Perry’s daughter, Hattie, must be -about wild over what’s happened to her father.”</p> - -<p>“Is there any one at Perry’s besides the girl?” asked -Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“No one, now, but Nate Dunbar, a cowboy who works -for Perry and has an interest in the cattle. Dunbar may<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[49]</span> -know something about Perry which will be a help to us. -We’ll ride to Perry’s first, see Nate Dunbar and Hattie, -then go on to Phelps’ ranch.”</p> - -<p>“Parson,” spoke up Nomad, grabbing Jordan’s hand, -“ye’ve shore made er hit with me. This hyar’s ther fust -time on reecord I ever trotted a heat with a sky pilot, -but I’m cottonin’ ter you real strong, an’ I fer one will -be tickled ter hev ye go with us.”</p> - -<p>“Nomad’s sentiments are mine, parson,” seconded Wild -Bill. “You go ahead and splice that couple at four -o’clock, then blow in at the hotel and we’ll sit in together -at the chuck table.”</p> - -<p>“Thank you for your confidence in me,” said Jordan -quietly. “You’ll find that I’m not a figurehead in the -enterprise, I think. You are brave men, and pards of -one of the bravest and most chivalrous Westerners the -border has ever known. It is a pleasure to be engaged -in such a venture with you. Adios, for the present.”</p> - -<p>The slender, boyish figure turned and swiftly vanished. -Old Nomad stood staring after him.</p> - -<p>“Hickok,” said he, slowly turning to the Laramie man, -“I’m er Piegan of thet sky pilot ain’t cuttin’ a wider -swath in my regyard than I ever thort one could. He -seems ther clear quill.”</p> - -<p>“And so he is, if I know the brand. But I hope our -ride to the Brazos won’t turn out a Sunday-school -picnic.”</p> - -<p>“Et won’t be ther parson’s fault ef et does,” chuckled -the trapper. “Did ye mark his eye, Pard Hickok? Et’s -what they calls a fightin’ eye. Ef necessary, I’ll bet a -blue stack thet Jordan kin convart the heathen by an -upper cut an’ a right hook ter ther jaw. Oh, I’m plumb -gone on him.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[50]</span></p> - -<p>“He’ll do,” returned Hickok briefly, but with conviction. -“We’ve been in town about three hours, Nick, and -we’ve got the cattle barons down on us.”</p> - -<p>“What do we care? Thet means excitement—somethin’ -ter fill in ther time till Buffler gits hyar. Ye was -pinin’ fer thet, a spell ago.”</p> - -<p>“I’m pining for it now, too. Come on, pard, and let’s -mosey back into the main street.”</p> - -<p>“Kerect. Ef any o’ Benner’s ’r Phelps’ punchers makes -er dead set at us prior ter supper, us two’ll turn Hackamore -inside out.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[51]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.<br /> -<span class="fs70">“COME-ALONGS.”</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The clerk at the Delmonico Hotel, as the shanty -hostelry was called, made a mistake while Wild Bill, -Nomad and Cayuse were at supper with the sky pilot. -A man came in with a small package wrapped in a piece -of newspaper.</p> - -<p>“Charlie,” said the man to the clerk, “tuck this here -package away in Lige Benner’s saddlebags.”</p> - -<p>Charlie was shaking dice over the board counter with -a cowboy. The clerk was trying to find out whether -he’d give the cowboy a cigar for nothing or make him -pay double for it.</p> - -<p>“All right, neighbor,” said the preoccupied Charlie, -turning from the counter with the package in one hand -and the dice box in the other.</p> - -<p>There were half a dozen pairs of saddlebags hanging -from nails on the wall. Charlie was the custodian of -those bags, and was supposed to know to whom each -pair belonged.</p> - -<p>He dropped the package under a flap of one of the -bags and then turned and went on with his gambling.</p> - -<p>Benner, Phelps and one or two more cattlemen came -out of the dining room a few minutes later, closely followed -by Wild Bill, Nomad, Cayuse and the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>“Oh, Lige,” called the clerk, “there was a feller in -here, a spell ago, with a package done up in a piece o’ -newspaper. He said it was ter go in yore saddlebags, -so I slipped it in.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[52]</span></p> - -<p>“Much obliged, Charlie,” answered Benner.</p> - -<p>It was casual talk, and was overheard casually by the -pards and the parson.</p> - -<p>An hour later, when Nomad, Wild Bill, Cayuse and -Jordan were riding at a leisurely clip for the Brazos, -keeping a sharp lookout for hostile cowboys, the Laramie -man reached into his warbag for a pouch of tobacco. -His groping hand encountered something which -he could not remember having placed in the bag.</p> - -<p>“Thunder!” he exclaimed, drawing his horse to a halt.</p> - -<p>“What’s up, pard?” asked Nomad, as he and the others -likewise halted.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what’s up,” answered Wild Bill. “Lean -over, Nick, and get a firestick to going. Have I got my -own warbags, or somebody else’s?”</p> - -<p>The trapper struck a light and held it over the battered -leather receptacles which always traveled with -Hickok whenever he rode.</p> - -<p>“They’re yoren, Hickok,” declared Nomad. “Ye -could pick out them bags from a thousand.”</p> - -<p>“The bags may be mine, Nick, but I’ll take oath this -don’t belong to me.”</p> - -<p>In the glow of the match Wild Bill presented the -package for the others’ inspection.</p> - -<p>“Ye didn’t put that in yer warbags, eh?”</p> - -<p>“No. I never saw it before. Strike another match -and let’s see what’s inside.”</p> - -<p>Examination showed Wild Bill and his companions -two pairs of steel bracelets. Everybody was staring and -wondering.</p> - -<p>“Now, how the blazes did those ‘come-alongs’ get into -my gear?” demanded Wild Bill, completely at sea. “I -never owned a pair of manacles in my life, and the only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[53]</span> -time I ever used any was when I was town marshal, up -at Abilene. Even then I shied at the things. How did -these get into my warbags? Parson, are you a mind -reader?”</p> - -<p>The sky pilot laughed.</p> - -<p>“I don’t have to be a mind reader to settle that point, -Mr. Hickok,” he answered. “Do you recall a brief conversation -that passed between the clerk at the Delmonico -Hotel and Lige Benner when we came out of the dining -room, right after supper? The clerk called out to Benner -that a man had brought a package wrapped in newspaper, -and that the package had been put in Benner’s -saddlebags. I shouldn’t wonder if the clerk had made -a mistake in the bags. Instead of putting the package -into Benner’s, Wild Bill, he put it into yours.”</p> - -<p>“Pard Jordan,” chirped Nomad, “yore head is some -level, an’ no mistake. Ye’ve called the turn. Pard -Hickok has got sheriff’s property as was intended fer -Benner.”</p> - -<p>“Right-o!” declared Wild Bill, with a chuckle. “I’ve -got some of Benner’s hardware, all right. The sheriff -must be a friend of his, eh, Jordan?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the pity of it, in this section,” the sky pilot -answered. “The law winks at the lawlessness of the cattle -barons, and that’s what makes the situation so hard -for Perry. There is no doubt but that the sheriff sent -those manacles to the hotel for Benner.”</p> - -<p>“But whyever was it?” inquired Nomad. “Why ther -blazes should Benner want come-alongs? Is he goin’ ter -put ’em on Perry?”</p> - -<p>“It’s likely that he needs them in his lawless work,” -returned Jordan. “Those ugly things are only used on -prisoners, and the only prisoners Benner may have to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[54]</span> -take care of are those at the Perry ranch. I argue -evil things from the fact that there are two sets of -gyves.”</p> - -<p>“What’s the argument?” came from Wild Bill, as he -put the handcuffs in his pocket, filled his pipe, lighted it -and made ready to continue the ride.</p> - -<p>“Why,” said Jordan, “one pair would be enough for -Perry. The other pair may be for Nate Dunbar, Perry’s -partner. I’m afraid we’re going to find affairs in something -of a tangle at Perry’s ranch. Let’s hurry on.”</p> - -<p>For more than two hours they hurried, the sky pilot -sitting his horse with all the skill and ease of a professional -range rider, and bearing the discomforts of the -rapid journey in admirable style.</p> - -<p>At the end of two hours the party was in the scant -timber that fringed the Brazos, and had pointed upstream. -Abruptly, the sky pilot drew rein.</p> - -<p>“Friends,” said he, “half a mile ahead of us is Perry’s -ranch. We don’t know the situation there, and I am -sorely troubled as to what we shall find. Some of Benner’s -cowboys may be in possession of the place, or -lurking in the vicinity. I would suggest that one of us -ride ahead and reconnoitre; and the one to do this, it -seems to me, is Wild Bill.”</p> - -<p>“Just as you say, parson,” answered Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Nomad, Little Cayuse and I will wait here,” went on -Jordan. “If everything is all right at the ranch, and -you want us to come on, fire your revolver three times -into the air. The sound will carry this far, and we’ll -hear it and come. If there is anything wrong, return -to us and we’ll try to decide what is best to be done. -I am exceedingly apprehensive over this matter.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill thought that Jordan was letting his apprehensions<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[55]</span> -carry him too far, and that there was no need -for so much caution in approaching the ranch. However, -all the pards were more than willing to please -the sky pilot in such a small matter.</p> - -<p>“I’m off, amigos,” announced Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>His horse, Beeswax, answered to the touch of the -spurs and bounded away through the timber.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill halted when he came close to the ranch -house, and swept his eyes carefully around the vicinity. -He saw nothing to excite his suspicions. He could hear -horses in the corral, and he could see a glow of lamplight -coming from the windows of the cabin.</p> - -<p>“The girl and Dunbar are in the house,” muttered the -Laramie man, “and if they’re worried about Perry, the -fact is not evident from this distance. I’ll slash along, -just as though there weren’t any hostile barons on the -Brazos. If any cowboys present themselves—well, they’ll -make as good targets for me as Beeswax and I will -make for them.”</p> - -<p>He laughed softly and spurred onward. The door was -open when he drew up before it, and a flood of lamplight -poured through. A figure stood in the light—a -figure that brought Wild Bill up rigidly in his saddle. -His astonishment was intense.</p> - -<p>“Well, by gorry!” he exclaimed. “Have I got the -blind staggers? Pard Cody, is that you?”</p> - -<p>“There’s no mistake, Wild Bill,” came back in the -familiar tones of the king of scouts. “Get down and -tell me what brings you here?”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill got down and leaned against his saddle. He -was dazed, and was trying to guess how fate had shuffled -and dealt the cards in this amazing fashion.</p> - -<p>“I can’t seem to pull myself together, Pard Cody,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[56]</span> -said Wild Bill. “Did you drop in here to spend the -night on your way from Texico?”</p> - -<p>“I dropped into another place before I came here,” -answered the scout; “and, if I hadn’t, I shouldn’t be here -now.”</p> - -<p>A cowboy pushed into the light and out through the -door behind the scout.</p> - -<p>“Who’s this, Buffalo Bill?” the cowboy asked.</p> - -<p>“It’s my pard from Laramie, Wild Bill Hickok,” said -the scout.</p> - -<p>“From Hackamore?”</p> - -<p>“That’s the last place he hailed from, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“How does he happen to be here?”</p> - -<p>“That’s what I’m trying to get him to tell me. First, -though, you fellows strike hands. Hickok, this amigo -is Nate Dunbar. He has an interest in Perry’s cattle, -and he’s all right.”</p> - -<p>They shook hands.</p> - -<p>“Now,” went on the scout, “give me the right of this, -Pard Hickok. Why are you here?”</p> - -<p>“I’m here to see how things stack up at this ranch,” -said Hickok. “Something came my way in Hackamore -that offered a chance for excitement while we were waiting -for you to ride in from Texico.”</p> - -<p>“You came alone?”</p> - -<p>“Hardly.” Pulling his revolver, the Laramie man -fired three quick shots into the air. “The rest will -hear that,” he explained, “and come a-running. Meanwhile, -as explanations will consume a little time, where’ll -I put the caballo?”</p> - -<p>“In the corral,” answered Dunbar. “I’ll take the -bronk.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[57]</span></p> - -<p>Turning the horse over to the cowboy, Wild Bill -walked into the cabin with the scout.</p> - -<p>“This has been a night of surprises,” said Buffalo -Bill, “and not the least of the surprises is this meeting -with you. I’m glad you’re here, though. There’s a -tangle at this ranch, and we’re to unravel it.”</p> - -<p>“Buenos!” murmured Wild Bill, taking a chair; “maybe -I can help in the unraveling more than you think.”</p> - -<p>A clatter of approaching hoofs sounded. The scout -started forward in his chair.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be in a taking, pard,” counseled Wild Bill. -“Nomad, Little Cayuse and the sky pilot are riding up. -I left them back in the timber.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[58]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.<br /> -<span class="fs70">PARDS IN COUNCIL.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The coming of Jordan was another surprise to the -scout. When he, and Dunbar, and the scout, and Nomad, -and Wild Bill were gathered in the living room of the -ranch house, with Little Cayuse on guard over the live -stock at the corral, a council was held.</p> - -<p>Hickok told of the watch-throwing contest in Hackamore, -of the scrap of paper, its message, and how he, -Nomad and Cayuse had happened to ride to Perry’s on -their way to Phelps’ ranch. The “come-alongs” also -came up for discussion.</p> - -<p>“These may come handy, pards,” remarked the king -of scouts significantly, looking the handcuffs over and -then dropping them into his own pocket.</p> - -<p>“Take this, too,” said Wild Bill, “unless you want to -call in a blacksmith to get them off of whoever you put -them on.”</p> - -<p>He passed over a key, which went into the scout’s -pocket along with the manacles.</p> - -<p>Then Buffalo Bill told how he had dropped in on Red -Steve and Nate Dunbar at the dugout, and of the ride -to the ranch house.</p> - -<p>“There’s no use waiting here any longer for Perry,” -the scout finished. “From the information you bring, -Wild Bill, it seems certain that Perry is in the hands of -the cattle barons, and is being held at Phelps’ place.”</p> - -<p>“Ther onnery cattle dealers tried ter make a clean -sweep,” put in Nomad. “They captered Dunbar, Perry -an’ the gal. Through a piece o’ luck thet was some wonderful,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[59]</span> -ye managed ter help Dunbar. He’s at large, but -the gal an’ her father aire still in the hands o’ ther -enemy.”</p> - -<p>“I’m terribly worried about Hattie and Dick,” said -Jordan. “They’re fine people, and I’ve feared for a long -while that something like this would happen. Benner -is a man who believes that might makes right. He’s -all-powerful on the Brazos, backed up as he is by Phelps -and the other cattle barons. He can be as lawless as he -pleases, and what law there is in this country will never -touch him. The situation, gentlemen, is a sad commentary -on our free institutions.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon, pards,” observed Wild Bill, “that the girl -is also at Phelps’.”</p> - -<p>The scout nodded.</p> - -<p>“That it seems to me,” he answered, “is where she -would be taken. Both prisoners, I think, would be kept -in the same place.”</p> - -<p>“But,” went on Wild Bill, “these barons realize that -they’re playing a risky game. Phelps understands that, -anyhow, for he said so in that scrap of writing which -Benner had in his watch.”</p> - -<p>The scout knotted his forehead over a detail of the -situation which he could not fathom.</p> - -<p>“Why,” he queried, “should Phelps write that note and -hand it to Benner? They were together in Hackamore. -Why did Phelps put such stuff on paper when he could -have told it to Benner?”</p> - -<p>“It was private business, Buffalo Bill,” suggested the -sky pilot dryly, “so private that the barons did not dare -speak about it in Hackamore.”</p> - -<p>“Granted. The explanation is a little far-fetched,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[60]</span> -friend Jordan, but we’ll let it go. But why was Benner -keeping the paper in his watch? One reading would -have been enough for him, it seems to me. After getting -the gist of the paper talk, it would have been safer for -Benner to do with it what Wild Bill did afterwards—tear -it up.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no accounting for what those cattle barons -do,” said the sky pilot, shaking his head. “They have -suddenly become so prosperous that their heads are -turned. ‘The love of gold is the root of all evil,’ my -friends. Much wealth has a deplorable effect on the -majority of us.”</p> - -<p>“There’s a little evil, I reckon, parson,” returned the -Laramie man, “that gold hasn’t much to do with. For -instance, there’s no glittering wealth back of the barons’ -persecution of the Perrys.”</p> - -<p>“It’s the riches of which Benner has suddenly become -possessed,” insisted the sky pilot, “that leads him into -all these excesses. Too much money has turned his -brain. What man, of Benner’s professed standing in -this community, would allow himself to make war on the -Perrys as he has done?”</p> - -<p>Nate Dunbar muttered savagely under his breath.</p> - -<p>“There’s just one thing to do,” he averred, with a -snap of his jaws and a savage glimmer in his eyes.</p> - -<p>“What’s thet?” asked the trapper.</p> - -<p>“Lay for Benner!” said Dunbar, through his teeth. -“Hang out in the brush and put a bullet where it will -do the country the most good!”</p> - -<p>Jordan leaned over and dropped a gentle hand on the -cowboy’s shoulder.</p> - -<p>“My friend,” he murmured, “those words are not from -your heart. I know you too well. You’re not the sort of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[61]</span> -fellow to skulk in the brush like a rattlesnake and strike -at the man who comes along. Why, Nate, even a rattlesnake -gives warning. No, no. Face this manfully, and -in the open. Such injustice cannot thrive. Take my -word for it, it will not succeed.”</p> - -<p>“Amigo,” answered Dunbar. “I think a heap of you; -we all do, at this ranch. But hasn’t injustice thrived here -for months? What’s happened to Perry’s cattle? Might -has made right for a long time. I’m getting tired waiting -for a change.”</p> - -<p>“It is a long lane that has no turning, Nate,” said the -sky pilot with an encouraging smile, “and I have a feeling -that this lane is close to that point. Providence has -been kind to you and to the Perrys. Can’t you see the -hand of Providence in what happened at Red Steve’s? -Buffalo Bill was brought to your rescue, even as Wild -Bill and old Nomad discovered things in Hackamore -that brought them to the aid of Perry and Hattie. -These,” the sky pilot indicated the scout and his pards -with a gesture, “are stanch friends—men renowned for -their deeds—against whom the cattle barons cannot prevail. -Trust the future, man! Give Buffalo Bill and -his friends your full confidence, and then abide by the -result.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar was heartened not a little by the sky pilot’s -words.</p> - -<p>“I’m willin’ to do anything a man can do,” said he. -“I’m only human, parson, and it grinds me something -terrible to see the Perrys treated as they have been. -There are only four in Buffalo Bill’s party—six with -you and me—and you know how many punchers Benner -and Phelps can muster. That’s what makes the thing -look hopeless.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[62]</span></p> - -<p>“The race is not always to the swift, Nate, nor the -battle to the strong.”</p> - -<p>“Well, parson, I always pin my faith on a horse that -can go, and put my confidence in the outfit that has the -biggest number.”</p> - -<p>“Which is wrong, Nate. Intellect counts most in this -world. It’s the thinkers who take victory from mere -numbers and brute force.”</p> - -<p>“And that’s over my head, parson. Not but that I -believe in Buffalo Bill—only I want to be shown that -things will come our way, and I want to be shown -quick.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll begin showing you to-morrow,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“How?” asked Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“In the early morning I will ride to Phelps’ ranch and -talk with——”</p> - -<p>“Talking won’t do any good.”</p> - -<p>“This talking will,” was the calm response.</p> - -<p>“’Specially,” grinned the old trapper, “when Buffler -backs up his palaverin’ in his customary way.”</p> - -<p>The sky pilot turned on the scout.</p> - -<p>“Do you really intend, Buffalo Bill,” he asked, “to -visit Phelps’ ranch alone?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Will it be safe for you to do so?”</p> - -<p>A flicker of smiles ran around the faces of the pards.</p> - -<p>“I think it will be safe, Brother Jordan,” answered -the scout gravely. “It is not my habit to tangle up with -a situation I don’t think I can handle.”</p> - -<p>“But, by now, Red Steve will have carried word to the -cattle barons that you set Dunbar at liberty. Phelps and -Benner will be down on you just as they are on Wild -Bill and Nomad.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[63]</span></p> - -<p>“Even at that,” laughed the scout, “I’ll warrant that -they will not be unduly discourteous.”</p> - -<p>“Supposing,” interjected Dunbar, “that you don’t get -to Phelps’ ranch until after Benner comes and takes -Perry away?”</p> - -<p>“I think I shall get there before them; but, if not, -then I will go to Benner’s.”</p> - -<p>“Take the rest of us with you!” begged the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>“I’ll take you with me,” said the scout, “but you must -remain at a distance. A show of force, at this stage of -the game, is out of the question. A little tact is what -we need now more than anything else. If we all rode to -Phelps’ place in a crowd there would be war immediately; -but the barons won’t think they have much to fear if -I go there alone.”</p> - -<p>“Which is ther same as sayin’,” guffawed Nomad, -“thet Buffler’s plannin’ ter take ther cattle barons off’n -their guard. He kin do it, too.”</p> - -<p>The scout got up.</p> - -<p>“Now that we have settled what we are to do,” said -he, “we’d better all turn in and get a little sleep. Nick, -you go to the corral and bunk down with Cayuse. The -rest of us will find quarters in the house.”</p> - -<p>It was with delightful anticipations for the following -day that old Nomad shuffled off to the corral. To Little -Cayuse he recounted the various phases of the problem -that confronted the pards, and expanded glowingly upon -the warm work that lay ahead.</p> - -<p>“Things aire goin’ ter be red-hot on ther Brazos, kid,” -declared Nomad. “How you like um, huh?”</p> - -<p>“Like um buenos,” replied the little Piute. “Pa-e-has-ka -heap big chief. Where he go, me trail along. Cattle -barons muy malo; Pa-e-has-ka get um on the run. Ugh!”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[64]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">AT THE H-P RANCH.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Early the following morning, Nate Dunbar closed and -locked the door of the Star-A ranch house. The saddle -horses were in front of the cabin, all in fine fettle after -rest and forage.</p> - -<p>The scout’s Bear Paw, the Laramie man’s humorously -named Beeswax, the old trapper’s Hide-rack, the Little -Piute’s pinto Navi, Dunbar’s Buckskin, and the circuit-rider’s -roan called George—these were all in readiness -and champing the bit to get away.</p> - -<p>An hour’s ride down the Brazos would bring the party -within sight of the extensive ranch buildings belonging -to the H-P outfit.</p> - -<p>At the place where Phelps had located his ranch headquarters, -the Brazos described a wide bend. Bunk house, -chuck shanty, corrals for the horse herds and owner’s -house were all located on the tongue of land half circled -by the river.</p> - -<p>From rising ground at a distance of a quarter of a -mile the scout and his party looked down on the H-P -headquarters.</p> - -<p>Cowboys were going and coming, and at a hitching-pole -in front of the owner’s cabin a number of tethered -bronchos could be seen.</p> - -<p>“Looks ter me,” remarked old Nomad, shading his -eyes with his hand and staring steadily, “as though -Phelps had visitors.”</p> - -<p>“He’ll have another visitor, Nick,” laughed the scout, -“before he’s many minutes older.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[65]</span></p> - -<p>“We’re goin’ ter hang out right hyar in ther scrub an’ -watch fer trouble signs,” averred the trapper. “Ef we -savvy thet ther baron is tryin’ ter put ther kybosh on -ye, we’re goin’ ter turn loose an’ ride over ther hull -H-P outfit.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” cautioned the scout, “don’t you make any -move until you’re mighty sure I want you.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry about that, pard,” said Wild Bill reassuringly.</p> - -<p>“Perhaps,” spoke up the sky pilot, “I could be of help -if I went with you. I am well known at the H-P ranch, -and a good many of the cowboys are personal friends -of mine.”</p> - -<p>“Are they so friendly toward you, friend Jordan,” asked -the scout, “that they would take your part against -Phelps?”</p> - -<p>“Why, no. That would be rather too much to expect -of them.”</p> - -<p>“Then I don’t believe you could be of much help. -Anyhow, I would rather not give Phelps a chance to -think that I’m trying to hide behind a man of your cloth. -Stay here with the rest, friend Jordan, and I’ll go down -and see what I can find out.”</p> - -<p>“Good luck go with you,” murmured the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>The scout’s spurs rattled and Bear Paw galloped clear -of the scrub and down the slope leading to the ranch -houses.</p> - -<p>A little distance from Phelps’ private quarters the -scout passed a group of cowboys, lounging in the shade -of a tree. There were four in the group, and they were -reclining lazily and smoking and gossiping. Evidently -they were visitors.</p> - -<p>There were five saddle horses secured to the hitching-pole,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[66]</span> -and this left one visitor to be accounted for. Probably, -ran the scout’s thought, the missing visitor was -in the cabin with Phelps.</p> - -<p>The loafing cattlemen gave the scout keen attention as -he loped past. Even though his name was unknown, yet -he was a figure to command attention anywhere. The -magnificent black war horse, without a peer for looks, -mettle and speed, backed by the lithe, athletic form that -swayed in perfect unison with the black’s movements, -offered a picture not easily forgotten.</p> - -<p>The cowboys sat up and stared. The scout waved a -hand at them in friendly wise, slowed pace at the hitching-pole -and dismounted. Quickly he buckled his reins -about the pole, moved to the open door of the cabin -and, unannounced, stepped inside.</p> - -<p>A volley of savage oaths greeted his appearance. -Calmly he leaned against the wall and took the measure -of the situation.</p> - -<p>He was in a room, a big room, whose floor was littered -with catamount and wolf skins. The furniture, -although of the pioneer variety, was comfortable and -somewhat pretentious.</p> - -<p>There were three men in the room. The one that -commanded most of the scout’s attention was, to use a -colloquial term, “buck-and-gagged;” that is, he was -trussed up in a manner as uncomfortable as it was effective.</p> - -<p>He was sitting on the floor, knees hunched up to his -chin and his hands lashed around his knees. Under his -knees and over his arms ran a piece of stick.</p> - -<p>This man, it was clear, was a prisoner. The scout -guessed that it was Dick Perry.</p> - -<p>Perry, if that was really the man’s name, was middle-aged,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[67]</span> -and well dressed—considering the clothes worn in -that part of the country.</p> - -<p>He wore a blue shirt and his trousers were tucked into -the tops of knee boots. On the floor beside him lay a -broad-brimmed hat. Hope flickered in his eyes as they -rested on the scout—hope, and a wild appeal.</p> - -<p>The other two men in the room were the spectacular -persons already encountered by Wild Bill in the street -of Hackamore—the baron in black and the baron in haciendado -regalia.</p> - -<p>The barons, the scout saw at a glance, had been indulging -rather too freely in liquor. They had exploded -their oaths and leaped from their chairs, but they were -none too steady on their feet.</p> - -<p>“What’re you doing here?” demanded the man in the -greaser costume.</p> - -<p>“I have just happened in for a little call,” answered -the scout.</p> - -<p>“Then happen out again. This ain’t my day for callers.”</p> - -<p>“You seem to have a few, nevertheless.”</p> - -<p>The scout went over towards the barons and calmly -took a chair.</p> - -<p>“Great tornadoes!” cried the man in black. “Who’s -boss here, anyway, Phelps? Have you got the say about -things on your own place?”</p> - -<p>Phelps felt around himself uncertainly. He might have -been groping for a revolver, but, if he was, he failed to -get hold of one.</p> - -<p>“Go ’way!” ordered Phelps, glaring. “If you haven’t -got any business here, go ’way. Can’t you see it’s my -busy day?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[68]</span></p> - -<p>“It’s my busy day, too,” returned the scout. “This is -far from being a social call. Your name is Phelps?”</p> - -<p>“That’s my name.”</p> - -<p>“And yours”—the scout leveled a glance at the man -in black—“is Benner?”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered Benner, “if it means anything to you. -But I don’t want to talk, and I don’t want any stranger -butting in here. Phelps owns this place, and he’s ordered -you out. Make yourself scarce.”</p> - -<p>“If you don’t make yourself scarce,” declared Benner, -“I’ll yell for some of my cowboys. They’ll handle you -rough, but if you don’t go on my order you’ll bring it on -yourself.”</p> - -<p>The hands of both barons were now searching unsteadily -for firearms. Fearing that one of them might -lay hands on a six-shooter and accidentally work some -havoc with it, the scout took time by the forelock and -developed one of his own weapons.</p> - -<p>“I reckon we’d better understand each other right from -the start,” said he. “I came here to talk business, and -I’m not going to leave until the business is settled. The -cowboys outside are not going to interfere with us, and -if one of you men lifts his voice to call for help, there’ll -be fireworks—and the celebration will be mine, not yours. -Hold out your hands.”</p> - -<p>Both barons sputtered wrathfully.</p> - -<p>“No man,” fumed Phelps, “can come into my house -and draw a gun on me. By thunder, I won’t have it!”</p> - -<p>“I’m here,” said the scout, “and the gun is drawn. I -reckon you’ll have to have it—or something worse. Hold -out your hands! I’m not in the habit of giving an order -like that twice.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[69]</span></p> - -<p>There was that in the scout’s eyes and voice that struck -fear to the hearts of the cattle barons.</p> - -<p>They held out their hands—held them out at their -sides, on a level with their shoulders. An idea of a -grimly humorous turn flashed through the scout’s mind.</p> - -<p>“Back to back, gentlemen,” said he, fanning the revolver -back and forth so as to command the two impartially.</p> - -<p>“Who are you?” demanded Phelps, with an oath.</p> - -<p>“I’m a man who’s accustomed to being obeyed. Buffalo -Bill is the name, gentlemen.”</p> - -<p>The barons were not so far gone with liquor as not -to feel a thrill at the sound of that name. And there -were a few qualms mixed with the thrills.</p> - -<p>“Red Steve was telling me about you!” broke from -Benner. “He got to the ranch before I started for here -and——”</p> - -<p>“He delivered my message, did he?” asked the scout. -“If he did, you’ll understand that this call of mine this -morning is on behalf of the under dog. You heard what -I said?” The scout got up and advanced toward the -barons. “Back to back!”</p> - -<p>The two men, their angry eyes on the revolver, placed -themselves in the position required by the scout.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go this buck-and-gag game one better,” proceeded -the scout.</p> - -<p>Shifting his revolver to his left hand, with his right he -took a pair of handcuffs from his pocket. One of the -cuffs he snapped around Phelps’ left wrist, the other -around Benner’s right.</p> - -<p>“I won’t stand for this!” cried Phelps; “I’ll be hanged -if I——”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[70]</span></p> - -<p>The muzzle of the scout’s revolver looked Phelps between -the eyes, and his furious protest died on his lips.</p> - -<p>“You’ll be hanged quick enough, I reckon,” remarked -the scout, “if the law ever comes into its own on the -Brazos. Just now you’ll stand for whatever I choose -to throw your way.”</p> - -<p>“And I’ve got four men right outside there,” muttered -Benner.</p> - -<p>“Phelps has more men outside than you have, Benner,” -said the scout, “and they’re not helping him any -more than yours are helping you.”</p> - -<p>While he was talking he was snapping the other pair -of handcuffs into place on Phelps’ right wrist and Benner’s -left.</p> - -<p>When the work was done, the cattle barons were cunningly -fastened back to back, torturingly helpless. A -coiled riata swung from a peg in the wall. The scout put -up his revolver, took down the rope and made ready for -a short cast of the loop over the heads and shoulders -of the barons.</p> - -<p>He opened the noose wide, for he wanted it to clear -the outstretched arms of the captives. The two men -were muttering and writhing, straining at the handcuffs -to each other’s visible discomfort.</p> - -<p>The noose left the scout’s hand, hovered over the heads -of the two men and then dropped downward. When the -circle of hemp had reached their knees, the scout jerked -it suddenly taut. A low laugh came from Perry. He, -at least, was enjoying this bit of work.</p> - -<p>“Take it easy, gentlemen,” laughed Buffalo Bill; -“we’re going to talk business in a minute.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[71]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">A DASH FOR FREEDOM.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Considering the circumstances, Buffalo Bill’s manœuvre -was audacious in the extreme. Overawing the barons -and treating them in such a high-handed manner, right -on their own ground, was a reckless proceeding. It -needed a man of resource and determination like the scout -to carry it through to a success.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill, however, although he had acted on the -spur of the moment, was not blind to the dangers that -surrounded him. He was lightning quick in probing -chances and forecasting probabilities.</p> - -<p>There were two things he wanted to do. One was -to snatch Perry out of that camp of enemies; and the -other was to discover what had become of Perry’s -daughter.</p> - -<p>Moving quickly to the door, Buffalo Bill looked over -the surroundings of the cabin. The four cowboys were -still smoking and talking under the trees. In the other -direction, cowboys were catching up horses out of the -corral, saddling and riding away to their places on the -range.</p> - -<p>No one outside the cabin seemed to know or care what -was happening to the cattle barons.</p> - -<p>Mightily relieved, the scout whirled away from the -open door. As he did so, there was a crash that shook -the cabin floor. The two barons, in their struggles to -free their feet of the encircling noose, had toppled over -and fallen.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[72]</span></p> - -<p>Secured to each other as they were, they were in a -sorry plight. Buffalo Bill hurried to them and adjusted -their arms so that they would be more comfortable.</p> - -<p>“Stop your struggling,” said he, “and you’ll be a whole -lot better off.”</p> - -<p>“What do you mean by making an attack on me, right -on my own ground?” asked Phelps.</p> - -<p>“That’s where we begin to talk business, Phelps,” said -the scout. “The prisoner you have in this room is Dick -Perry?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, that’s my name,” spoke up the prisoner.</p> - -<p>In some manner Perry had freed himself of his gag -and was able to talk.</p> - -<p>Keeping a wary eye on the barons, Buffalo Bill backed -over to Perry and pulled the stick from under his knees. -Perry at once arose to his feet and slipped his hands out -of the coils at his wrists.</p> - -<p>“I owe you a debt of gratitude for this,” said he; “a -debt that I——”</p> - -<p>“Never mind that now, Perry,” interrupted the scout. -“We’re not out of the woods yet by a long shot. Is -your daughter here, at Phelps’ ranch?”</p> - -<p>A wild look crossed Perry’s face.</p> - -<p>“My daughter?” he returned. “Good heavens! You -don’t mean to say that she—that these scoundrels -have——”</p> - -<p>“You’re in the dark, I see, Perry,” cut in the scout, -“so the chances are that your daughter isn’t here. She -was taken away from the ranch some time last night.”</p> - -<p>Perry grabbed up a chair and started toward the two -men on the floor. The scout caught him by the shoulders.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[73]</span></p> - -<p>“Careful!” he warned. “A move like that won’t help -us any. Don’t lose heart—we’ll find the girl.”</p> - -<p>The scout went back to the cattle barons.</p> - -<p>“Watch the lay of the land outside, Perry,” said the -scout. “If you see any one coming this way, let me -know at once.”</p> - -<p>Perry put down the chair and cautiously took up a -position by the open door.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got the bulge on us, Buffalo Bill,” said Benner. -“Take these confounded manacles off our hands.”</p> - -<p>“They belong to you,” returned the scout, “and I -reckon I’ll let you keep them. Those are the handcuffs -that the clerk of the hotel said he had put in your saddlebags. -The clerk put them in the wrong saddlebags, -that’s all. Why did you want two pairs?”</p> - -<p>“That’s our business,” snapped Phelps. “You’re -playing a mighty reckless game, Buffalo Bill, and you’ve -about one chance in a thousand to win out. You may be -able to get away from this ranch, but the Brazos country -isn’t big enough to hide you from the men Benner and -I will put on your trail.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take care of that part of it. You fellows would -have more success in your deviltry if you’d quit passing -notes back and forth and hiding them in your watch -cases.”</p> - -<p>Both barons swore.</p> - -<p>“Confound it, Phelps,” gurgled Benner, “that was -your fault.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” snorted Phelps, “whenever you make a -misplay it’s my fault! When I gave you that information -I couldn’t talk it, so I had to write.”</p> - -<p>“And I wasn’t able to read it then, and so I had to -put it in my watch and read it later. But you could<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[74]</span> -have waited. We’d have had plenty of chance to talk -privately before we left Hackamore. That’s where you -was lame. You didn’t wait.”</p> - -<p>“And where was you lame?” taunted Phelps. “Making -that bet to throw watches. Why didn’t you think of -what was in that watch of yours, hey? You——”</p> - -<p>“That’s enough,” interrupted the scout. “Save your -bickering until Perry and I get away. Benner, what -have you done with Hattie Perry?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know anything about Hattie Perry,” answered -Benner sulkily.</p> - -<p>“Yes, you do. You’re talking crooked, when you say -that; I can see it in your face. Where is the girl? If -you know when you’re well off, you’ll tell me, and not -make any bones about it.”</p> - -<p>“Who’re you, anyhow?” flashed Benner. “You may -amount to something in your own neck of the woods, but -you don’t cut much of a caper here on the Brazos. This -is our ground, this is! When Perry sees his daughter -next, she’ll be Mrs. Benner.”</p> - -<p>Fortunately, Perry didn’t hear Benner’s remark.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have another guess coming about that,” said -the scout. “You’re about as contemptible a cur, Lige -Benner, as a man could find in a month’s travel. You -two men have a chance, here and now, to do the right -thing and square yourselves. Tell me where Miss Perry -is, and agree to return all the Star-A cattle you’ve rustled -and leave Perry and Dunbar alone in future, and we’ll -call this account settled. It will be mighty small payment -for you scoundrels to make. Hang out against my -proposition, and I’ll camp down on the Brazos until I’ve -run you men to cover.”</p> - -<p>“That’s big talk,” taunted Phelps.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[75]</span></p> - -<p>“The way I’ve handled you this morning is a sample -of the way I and my pards do things. If you want any -more samples, you’ll find us ready to produce. What -have you to say?”</p> - -<p>“Be hanged to you,” snarled Benner. “You’re a long -ways from being out of this yet. You——”</p> - -<p>“Buffalo Bill!” called Perry from the door.</p> - -<p>As the scout looked, Perry motioned frantically; and -the scout ran to the door, the two cattle barons began -to yell for help.</p> - -<p>“That settles it,” muttered the scout; “it’s neck or -nothing with us, Perry. That’s my horse—the black at -the end of the hitching-pole. You annex the one hitched -alongside. Sharp’s the word!”</p> - -<p>Together they sprang through the door. Cowboys -seemed to be coming from every direction, on foot and -on horseback. The four who had been smoking under -the tree were the ones who had caused Perry’s alarm. -They had started toward the house in a body. Whether -they were merely curious, or whether they had heard -something which had aroused their suspicions, the scout -never knew. Be that as it might, when the scout and -Perry leaped through the door, the four men were almost -upon them.</p> - -<p>“Stop those fellows!” yelled Benner from inside the -house.</p> - -<p>There was small need of any urging on the part of the -cattle barons. Benner’s cowboys, seeing Perry free and -hurrying away with the man who had recently arrived -on the black horse, suspected at once that a rescue had -been effected.</p> - -<p>The four cowboys hurled themselves at the scout and -Perry. Benner’s men met with a surprise that literally<span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[76]</span> -carried two of them off their feet—a right-hander from -the scout did the trick for one, and a straight-out blow -by Perry dropped the other.</p> - -<p>The remaining two made an attempt to snatch their -guns from their belts. The fugitives, however, took advantage -of the attempt to use their fists again. The last -pair were bowled over, and the scout and Perry jumped -for their horses.</p> - -<p>To tear the animals free of the hitching-pole required -only a moment, but every moment was precious. The -gathering minions of the barons were almost in front of -the log house as the escaping men jumped to their saddles.</p> - -<p>“Follow me, Perry!” shouted the scout, laying a course -up the slope in the direction of the place where he had -left his friends.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, Nomad, and Dunbar could be seen descending -the slope, their horses at top speed, to cover their -pard’s retreat with Perry.</p> - -<p>Revolvers began to crack spitefully and leaden bees -hissed through the air. The excitement of the moment, -and the receding targets, caused every bullet to go wild.</p> - -<p>The fusillade was returned from up the slope, and the -mounted cowboys who had taken up the pursuit, drew -wary rein to make out the number and disposition of -the enemies up the “rise.” And while they were hesitating -and making their calculations, Buffalo Bill and -Perry were pounding along and making good in their -dash for freedom.</p> - -<p>“Whoop-ya!” <ins class="corr" id="tn76" title="Transcriber’s Note—“roared old Nomand, while the scout” changed to “roared old Nomad, while the scout”.">roared old Nomad, while the scout</ins> -and Perry drew closer up the slope, “le’s tear through ther -tin-horn camp, pards, an’ raise Cain with a big ‘K!’ Le’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[77]</span> -cut loose an’ show ’em our own partic’ler brand o’ destruction! -Le’s give ’em er taste o’——”</p> - -<p>“Head the other way, quick!” shouted the scout, as he -and Perry came thundering up. “Heels are trumps, -pards, and see how quick you can play ’em.”</p> - -<p>Nomad yielded. When the scout ordered a move contrary -to Nomad’s desires, he always yielded.</p> - -<p>In a galloping crowd, Dunbar, Wild Bill, Nomad, the -scout and Perry swept over the top of the “rise” and -into the scrub. Here they were joined by Jordan and -Little Cayuse, and they skimmed the earth like a flock -of low-flying birds.</p> - -<p>There was no time for talk, no time for anything but -an occasional look behind and a frantic urging of the -horses.</p> - -<p>Eight, nine, ten—a dozen mounted men flickered over -the crest of the slope and settled themselves for what -they evidently thought was to be a long chase.</p> - -<p>“Twelve up!” shouted the Laramie man.</p> - -<p>“Not so many, oh, not so many!” roared the old trapper. -“We’re six! What’s two ter one? Waugh! Give -ther word, Buffler, an’ we’ll turn on ’em.”</p> - -<p>But the scout did not give the word. There might -be no more than twelve in sight, but under the “rise” -were enough cowboys to literally overwhelm the scout’s -small party.</p> - -<p>On went the race. Perry and Dunbar led the fugitives -down into the timber, and there, where the scrub -was thickest, there followed an exciting game of hare -and hounds.</p> - -<p>Knowing the country well, Perry and Dunbar were -able to take advantage of every friendly swale and shallow -seam in the river bottom. In brushy coverts the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[78]</span> -fugitives waited for the dozen cowboys to rush past, then -they doubled back, crossed the river, followed up the -opposite bank, recrossed and paused for breath in a -coulee.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ reptyles!” mourned old Nomad, slapping -Hide-rack’s sweaty neck, “thet’s new bizness fer We, Us -an’ Comp’ny, dodgin’ trouble thet-a-way. I hope I’ll -forgive myself some time fer doin’ et.”</p> - -<p>“You’d have had to forgive yourself for not doing it, -Nick,” returned the scout, dismounting to loosen his saddle -cinches, “if we’d taken any other course. How -many cowboys has Phelps got in his outfit, Perry?”</p> - -<p>“He can muster thirty men, I guess, without much -trouble,” answered Perry.</p> - -<p>“All of that,” seconded Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“It is well we took to our heels, friends,” spoke up -the sky pilot. “If any blood had been shed, it would -have been a blot on our consciences.”</p> - -<p>“Ef we took on er few blots,” said Nomad, “I -reckon we’d crimp them barons an’ save future trouble -fer Perry.”</p> - -<p>Cayuse, thoughtful as ever, had left Navi in the bottom -of the coulee and crept up the bank to watch for -enemies. Lying on the slope, only his head and the -upright eagle plume in his scalplock showed over the -crest.</p> - -<p>All had dismounted and loosened cinches in order to -give their panting horses more freedom in using their -lungs.</p> - -<p>“Dick,” said the sky pilot, reaching out his hand to -the harassed rancher, “I’m sorry you are having this -trouble, but I always feared it would come to something -like this.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[79]</span></p> - -<p>“There was nothing I could do to help it, parson,” -answered Perry, “short of leaving the country. I couldn’t -do that, with all I’ve got in the world tied up at the -Star-A.”</p> - -<p>“It is my hope, my prayer, that you will be tided over -your difficulties. If that can be accomplished, these good -friends will see to it, I’m sure.”</p> - -<p>“I’m obliged to Buffalo Bill and his pards. How they -came to be mixed up in my troubles is more than I know. -I want to know all about it, but first, tell me about Hattie. -How do you know she has been taken away by -Lige Benner? When did it happen?”</p> - -<p>“Last night, Dick,” answered Dunbar heavily.</p> - -<p>“Where were you yesterday, Nate?”</p> - -<p>“Captured by some of Benner’s men while I was out -looking for strays, turned over to Red Steve, then found -and released by Buffalo Bill. That was in the first half -of the night. The scout and I rode to the ranch and -found everything in the living room in disorder—and -Hattie gone.”</p> - -<p>A groan was wrenched from Perry’s lips.</p> - -<p>“Has it come to this,” he cried, “that these scoundrels -must make war on women?”</p> - -<p>His tortured soul found vent in language that shocked -the minister’s ears.</p> - -<p>“Peace, friend,” said Jordan. “You have much to be -thankful for. You are not yourself. Try to be composed.”</p> - -<p>“How did you fall into the hands of Phelps?” asked -the scout, more to get the rancher’s mind to running in -another channel than anything else.</p> - -<p>“I went looking for Nate,” was the answer, “and some -of Phelps’ men roped me in the timber. The noose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[80]</span> -dropped before I could avoid it, and I was jerked from -the back of my horse. They took me to the H-P ranch -yesterday noon, and Phelps went to Hackamore to see -Benner, report, and get him to send after me. Benner -rode over this morning with an escort of cowboys. The -plan was to take me to Benner’s ranch, but Phelps and -Benner got to drinking and, before we started, Buffalo -Bill came.”</p> - -<p>Perry turned on the scout, his eyes wide with wonder.</p> - -<p>“Buffalo Bill,” said he, “if any one had told me that -it was possible for a man to do what you did at Phelps’ -this morning I would not have believed it. In all my -life I never saw such a nervy piece of work.”</p> - -<p>Old Nomad began to chuckle.</p> - -<p>“It won’t be long, amigos,” he remarked, “afore these -hyar cattle barons o’ ther Brazos’ll begin ter git acquainted -with Buffler Bill. None o’ Buffler’s pards stack -up ter his level, but, ef I do say et, I reckon we reach -purty middlin’ high.”</p> - -<p>“What did you do, pard?” asked Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“I corrected the mistake which the clerk at the hotel -made last evening,” laughed the scout.</p> - -<p>“Meaning which?”</p> - -<p>“Why, I gave Benner the handcuffs.”</p> - -<p>“With his revolver,” put in Perry, “he forced the two -cattle barons to stand back to back, and then he handcuffed -their wrists together. He finished the work by -putting the noose of a riata around their feet. And that’s -the way we left them!”</p> - -<p>“I came away,” added Buffalo Bill, “and forgot to -leave the key to the bracelets, so——”</p> - -<p>Old Nomad was a minute or two grasping the situation -the scout had caused in Phelps’ cabin. Just at this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[81]</span> -point it broke over him, and he leaned against Hide-rack -and bellowed with mirth.</p> - -<p>“Say,” he sputtered, “this hyar reminds me some o’ -ther way Buffler went inter the Sioux kentry an’ took ole -Lightnin’-thet-strikes right out from ther middle o’ his -band. Waugh! Er-waugh! An’ our pard left them -fellers back ter back, handcuffed ter each other, an’ -with their men thicker eround ’em than what fleas is in -ole Siskiyou county! I’d like ter lay off fer a hull day -an’ enjoy thinkin’ erbout thet. I would so!”</p> - -<p>“That was just my kind of a play,” commented Wild -Bill regretfully. “Wish I could have been in on it -myself.”</p> - -<p>“Let me know, Buffalo Bill,” requested Perry, “how -you knew I was at the H-P ranch? Phelps was trying -to keep that quiet.”</p> - -<p>The scout explained in a few words.</p> - -<p>“Certainly,” murmured Perry, “I ought to be thankful -that I have friends like you and your pards to lend me a -helping hand at this critical time. Every man on the -Brazos seems to have been against Dunbar and me!”</p> - -<p>“Not every man, Dick,” protested Jordan. “Only -Benner and Phelps are really against you. The rest of -the cattlemen are so completely dominated by Benner -and Phelps that they don’t dare take sides with you -openly.”</p> - -<p>“We know the stake Benner is playing for,” said Wild -Bill, “but what does Phelps hope to make out of this -rascally work?”</p> - -<p>“For one thing,” replied Perry, “Phelps wants the -Star-A range. He tried to buy out the man who sold -to me. Maybe it would have been better if I had gone -elsewhere for a location and let Phelps have the Star-A<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[82]</span> -range. We can never tell about these things until it’s -too late.”</p> - -<p>“Then, too,” spoke up Jordan, “Phelps is a bosom -friend of Benner’s. That’s the principal reason, I suppose, -why he’s taking a part in this rascally work. But -prosperity is back of it all—too much prosperity for -men who do not understand how to make the best use -of their wealth.”</p> - -<p>“Isn’t there something we can do for Hattie?” asked -Perry tremulously. “Must we stay cooped up in this -coulee, guarding against an attack from the H-P outfit, -while my girl is in the hands of that scoundrel, Benner?”</p> - -<p>“We’re going to do something for Miss Perry, amigo,” -returned the scout, “and we’ll start the ball to rolling -just as soon as we can decide what’s to be done. If -your daughter had been at the H-P ranch, you’d have -discovered it, I think. And I don’t believe Benner would -have her taken to his place. Is there any one else besides -Red Steve on whom Benner could depend for help -in dealing with Miss Perry?”</p> - -<p>“There’s Fritz Dinkelmann,” suggested Dunbar. “That -Dutchman and his wife owe Benner money, and while I -think Fritz is as honest as the usual run of men, still, -being in debt head over ears to Benner he might be -forced to——”</p> - -<p>“Dinkelmann, Dinkelmann!” muttered Wild Bill. “Say, -Nick, wasn’t that the Dutchman our Dutch pard went to -see? Wasn’t it Dinkelmann who——”</p> - -<p>A call came from Cayuse. As he shouted, he beckoned -those below to come up the slope and see with -their own eyes something he had discovered.</p> - -<p>What the pards saw, peering over the crest of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[83]</span> -coulee bank, sent the hot blood pounding through their -veins.</p> - -<p>“It’s the baron—our Dutch pard!” shouted Wild Bill; -“the fellow we were just talking about, Perry!”</p> - -<p>“There’s a woman with him,” faltered Perry; “can it -be—on my soul, I think it is——”</p> - -<p>“Yes,” breathed Dunbar hoarsely, “it’s Hattie, Dick! -I can see her plain. An’ behind the two are a score or -two of cowboys from Benner’s ranch, and from the H-P -outfit. They outnumber us, but we’ve got to do something! -We can’t stand here like this.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar whirled around and rushed stumbling down -the slope toward the horses.</p> - -<p>“How Benner and Phelps ever got out of those come-alongs -so quick is more than I know,” muttered the -scout, “but they’re leading those cowboys in the pursuit -of the baron and the girl. Spurs and quirts, pards! -We’re company front with one of the hardest jobs we -ever tackled, but, as Dunbar says, we’ve got to make -a move.”</p> - -<p>No second urging was needed. Every one followed -Dunbar down the slope, cinches were swiftly tightened, -and the whole party mounted and rode away to the help -of the baron and the girl.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[84]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.<br /> -<span class="fs70">DUTCH COURAGE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>It has been said early in this chronicle, that Chance -made a triple blunder. In one corner of the triangle was -Buffalo Bill, dropping through the roof of Red Steve’s -dugout and effecting the release of Nate Dunbar; in another -corner was Wild Bill, watching a queer contest -of watch throwing and finding a scrap of paper which -ultimately led to the relief of Dick Perry; and in the -third corner was Villum von Schnitzenhauser, lured from -the rest of his pards by the prospect of a talkfest with -Fritz Dinkelmann.</p> - -<p>The baron had heard of Fritz Dinkelmann at the -house of a small rancher where he, and Wild Bill, and -old Nomad, and Little Cayuse had halted for an hour on -their journey toward Hackamore. The rancher had -mentioned Dinkelmann in an off-hand way, and the baron -had pressed inquiries.</p> - -<p>Dinkelmann had been on the Brazos for ten years. -Everybody in that section knew him, and knew how he -had borrowed and borrowed from Lige Benner, until -Benner had secured every head of the Dutchman’s stock -and a mortgage on his land and the cabin roof that -sheltered himself and his wife. Dinkelmann had been -in the German army, and carried honorable wounds—mementos -of the Franco-Prussian War.</p> - -<p>This mention of Dinkelmann’s army experience was -what stirred the baron most deeply; for the baron himself -had served his time in the kaiser’s ranks, and had<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[85]</span> -won the Order of the Black Eagle for bravery on the -field.</p> - -<p>Yes, certainly, the baron would have to see Dinkelmann -and engage in a talkfest. It would be some time -before Buffalo Bill could reach Hackamore from Texico, -and the baron could pass the night at Dinkelmann’s and -get to Hackamore before the scout reached the town.</p> - -<p>It was nine o’clock in the evening when the baron, -having lost and found himself at least a dozen times, -first sighted the glow of light in Dinkelmann’s cabin, -rode up to the door and leaned down from his saddle -to knock.</p> - -<p>A buxom lady answered his summons, starting back in -trepidation when she found the baron’s mule bulked -across the entrance.</p> - -<p>“Iss Misder Dinkelmann in der house, yes?” inquired -the baron.</p> - -<p>“Yah,” replied the buxom lady, but not with much -enthusiasm.</p> - -<p>“Meppy you peen Frau Dinkelmann, yes, no?”</p> - -<p>“Yah.”</p> - -<p>“Vell, I peen Deutsch meinseluf, und I rite seferal -miles oudt oof my vay schust for a leedle talk mit -friendts from Chermany.”</p> - -<p>“For vy you nod shpeak der Deutsche sprache?” inquired -Frau Dinkelmann skeptically.</p> - -<p>“Pecause I dry hardt to make some berfections in -der English.”</p> - -<p>The baron, however, in order to prove that he was not -an impostor, rattled away in his native tongue. Herr -Dinkelmann was in the cabin, but he was not feeling -well. He was a good-for-nothing, the herr, and he was -not brave enough to call his soul his own except when<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[86]</span> -he was at his schnapps. Would the baron put up his -mule in the corral behind the house, and come in?</p> - -<p>The baron would—and did.</p> - -<p>He found the interior of the house a bare enough place. -There were two chairs and a lounge in the front room, -and a table on which stood the lamp.</p> - -<p>Herr Dinkelmann was stretched out on the lounge. -He was a short, fat man and seemed in great distress -over something.</p> - -<p>“Ged oop, you lazy lout, und see vat iss come already!” -cried Frau Dinkelmann. “A visidor has come -py us, und you peen so drunk like nodding. Fritz! Ged -oop yourseluf und sit der lounge on, den look vat you -see. A visidor yet.”</p> - -<p>Frau Dinkelmann talked English, perhaps out of deference -to the baron, perhaps only because she wanted -to show him that she also was proficient in foreign -tongues.</p> - -<p>As she talked to Fritz, she grabbed him and heaved -him bodily into a sitting position.</p> - -<p>“Vat a fool I don’d know!” puffed Frau Dinkelmann. -“Macht schnell, Fritz! Lieber Gott, vill you your eyes -oben und see vat iss here?”</p> - -<p>A groan escaped Fritz Dinkelmann’s lips. His eyes -opened and he saw the baron’s hand. Grabbing at the -hand, he clung to it with a fervor that almost threw -him off the lounge.</p> - -<p>“Safe me!” he blubbered; “safe me or I vill die! Vere -vas it put you der schnapps, Katrina? Liebe Frau, gif -me der pottle some more yet.”</p> - -<p>Katrina stood in front of him and stuck up an admonitory -finger.</p> - -<p>“Hear me vat I say now und reflect,” she cried. “I gif<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[87]</span> -you nod der pottle some more yet to-nighdt. Dot’s all -aboudt it. You make oof yourseluf some pigs, some -mules, ven you der schnapps trink so great. It iss nod -dot he loves der trink so,” she explained to the baron, -“aber dot he vants it der Dutch courage vat you call. -He iss troubles in, ve art bot’ troubles in, lieber Gott, -und he takes der schnapps to forget him der troubles. -Vat a nonsense.”</p> - -<p>“I haf hat drouples meinseluf, yah, so helup me,” said -the baron, “aber I look dem in der eyes und face dem -oudt. Vat’s der use to trink und make some forgeddings? -Der drouples vas dere alretty, ven ter trink iss -gone. Fritz, mein lieber freund, douple der fist oop und -knock der drouples oudt oof der vay.”</p> - -<p>Fritz moaned and tried to slump back on the lounge.</p> - -<p>“I don’d got it some nerve to knock me my drouples -oudt mit der fist. Liebe Frau——”</p> - -<p>But Katrina had grabbed him and pushed him back -to a sitting posture.</p> - -<p>“Iss it to dreat a visidor righdt you act like dot?” she -cried. “I vill handt you vone auf der kopf oof you don’d -make some vakings oop und act mit resbect.”</p> - -<p>“Vat iss der name?” asked Fritz, displaying a feeble -interest in the baron.</p> - -<p>“Villum, Baron von Schnitzenhauser,” answered the -baron. “Vat iss der madder? Some oof der shildren -sick?”</p> - -<p>“Kindern ve haf none,” answered Fritz.</p> - -<p>“Haf you some cattles on der range?”</p> - -<p>“Cattles ve haf nod, neider kinder. Ach, du lieber, -vat a hardt time I don’d know. I dry to do der righdt -t’ing mit eferypody, und pecause I owe Penner, he makes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[88]</span> -me do der wrong t’ing, oder he takes from Katrina und -me avay der leedle house vere ve lif.”</p> - -<p>“Shut oop such talks!” cried Katrina. “Der Dutch -courage don’d make some helps mit you. I go by der -kitchen now to ged us der paron some subber. Shpeak -mit him, Fritz, vile I peen avay.”</p> - -<p>“Liebe Frau,” begged Fritz, stretching out his hands, -“gif us first der schnapps.”</p> - -<p>She struck his hands aside.</p> - -<p>“Macht ruhig aboudt der schnapps, oder I vill der -pottle preak on der shtones,” she cried angrily.</p> - -<p>With that, she lost herself in the rear room.</p> - -<p>The baron tried to talk with Fritz, but it was impossible -to get much out of him. Even a mention of the -German army failed to arouse any interest in the distressed -Dutchman. Finally Fritz slumped back on the -lounge and began to snore.</p> - -<p>The baron would have been disgusted but for the fact -that some great sorrow was preying upon the unfortunate -Dinkelmann. He craved his schnapps to give him -strength to bear his trials. Frau Dinkelmann, it was -clear, didn’t believe in Dutch courage.</p> - -<p>What was all the bother about? the baron asked himself. -If it was the loss of cattle or a mortgage on the -home that grieved and fretted his countryman, the baron -would not have had much sympathy for him. The baron -liked to see a man act in a manly way, face his misfortunes, -and walk over them to peace, plenty, and happiness.</p> - -<p>But there was something besides the loss of cattle and -the mortgage on Dinkelmann’s mind.</p> - -<p>While Dinkelmann snored, and his wife moved around<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[89]</span> -in the kitchen, the baron smoked, and tried to guess out -the problem.</p> - -<p>He was almost sorry he had not gone on to Hackamore -with Nomad, Wild Bill, and Little Cayuse. Had -he known the trail better, he would have excused himself -and started out without waiting for supper. But he -had lost his way so many times coming to Dinkelmann’s -that he was afraid to attempt the unknown country by -night.</p> - -<p>While he sat and mused, he became conscious of a -slight tapping, as of knuckles lightly drumming against -a door. He started forward in his chair, and stared -around. There were only three doors to that room—one -at the front entrance, one leading into the kitchen, and -another opening off to the right. The tapping came from -the other side of the door on the right.</p> - -<p>What did it mean? The baron sat and studied over -the remarkable phenomenon until a shuffling sound -struck on his ears. When that commenced, the knocking -ceased.</p> - -<p>Under the baron’s astounded eyes a bit of white cloth -was showing itself beneath the door which had so mysteriously -claimed his attention. Some one, it seemed, -was trying to push the piece of cloth through into the -living room.</p> - -<p>Softly the baron arose, crossed to the door, bent down, -and pulled the cloth away.</p> - -<p>It was a small handkerchief. Turning it over in his -hand, he saw that there was writing in pencil on one -side of it.</p> - -<p>The plot was thickening! The baron, overjoyed to -find a little excitement where he had expected nothing -more than a talkfest, sat down again, spread the handkerchief<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[90]</span> -out on his knee, and puzzled his brain over the -following:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p class="noindent">“<span class="smcap">Stranger</span>: Will you be a friend to a woman in -distress? I am being detained in this room against my -will. I must escape and go back to my home. The -horse that brought me should be in the corral. The window -of the room is boarded up on the outside, but the -boards can be easily removed.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Had the writing been in German, the baron would not -have been long in deciphering it, but it was in English -and, in places, almost illegible. However, he managed to -get at the gist of the communication. A flutter of joy -ran through him.</p> - -<p>Here was an adventure!</p> - -<p>And the baron could not live and be happy unless adventures -were constantly piling in upon him.</p> - -<p>From the moment the baron had deciphered the writing -on the handkerchief, and had made up his mind to -act upon the request of the imprisoned lady, he found -nothing monotonous in his surroundings.</p> - -<p>When Frau Dinkelmann asked him to come out into -the kitchen and have some supper, he stuffed the handkerchief -into his pocket, and moved with alacrity into -the rear room.</p> - -<p>Frau Dinkelmann, sitting on the opposite side of the -table while the baron ate, talked unceasingly in the German -language. The baron, even if he had been so inclined, -could hardly have got a word in edgeways. But -he wasn’t anxious to talk. He listened mechanically, and -ate mechanically. His mind was busy with the imprisoned -lady who had sent him a penciled appeal on her -handkerchief.</p> - -<p>“I vonder iss she young?” thought the baron; “und is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[91]</span> -she goot-looking? Und vill she be gradeful oof I safe -her from der Dinkelmann house?”</p> - -<p>So far as the mere adventure went, the baron was not -particular whether the lady was young or good-looking. -But, if she happened to be both, the glamor of romance -might be added to the undertaking.</p> - -<p>“You vill shday der house in till morning?” inquired -Frau Dinkelmann, dropping back into her English as the -baron arose from the table.</p> - -<p>“Could I talk mit Fritz in der morning?” he asked. -“Vill he feel pedder mit himseluf den?”</p> - -<p>“Yah, so. You shday und you can talk mit Fritz all -vat you blease. I make you a bed der floor on.”</p> - -<p>“I don’d like to shleep in der house,” demurred the -baron. “I like pedder der oudttoors as a shleeping -blace. I drafel mit fellers vat shleep oudtoors all der -time, und I have got used to it.”</p> - -<p>The baron was cunning. He knew that if he was supposed -to be sleeping outdoors he would have a chance -to examine the boarded-up window without arousing -Frau Dinkelmann. He could also find the lady’s horse, -and get both the horse and Toofer, the mule, ready -for the road.</p> - -<p>“Dere iss hay py der corral,” said Frau Dinkelmann.</p> - -<p>“Den,” said the baron, going into the front room for -his hat, “I vill shmoke, und shleep on der hay. Vat iss -der preakfast time?”</p> - -<p>“Sigs o’glock, oder venefer you retty vas for vat ve -haf. Gott sei dank, ve got somet’ing to eat.”</p> - -<p>Bidding Frau Dinkelmann good night, the baron left -the house by the kitchen door, rounded the corner of the -building, and crept stealthily to the boarded-up window.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[92]</span></p> - -<p>Lightly he tapped on the boards. A tapping on the -other side of the barrier answered him.</p> - -<p>The baron breathed quick and hard. What would -Nomad and Wild Bill not have given to be mixed up -in such an adventure?</p> - -<p>Ach, du lieber, but he was a lucky Dutchman!</p> - -<p>After making sure that the lady had heard, and that -she understood he would come to her rescue, the baron -fell to examining the boards that closed up the opening.</p> - -<p>They had been stoutly spiked to the side of the house. -In prying them away, it would be necessary to use an -axe, and there would be considerable noise.</p> - -<p>The baron would have to wait until Frau Dinkelmann -was fast asleep. Even then there was a chance that she -would be aroused by his attack on the boards, but, if -she was, he would rescue the lady anyway, and in spite -of both the Dinkelmanns. The baron preferred, however, -to rescue the lady quietly, and to get away from the -house with her without making a scene with the muscular -frau.</p> - -<p>Leaving the cabin, he went to the woodpile and found -an axe. This he carried to the window, and laid on the -ground beneath it, where it would be conveniently at -hand when the time came to remove the boards.</p> - -<p>His next move was to go to the corral and look for -the horse and the lady’s riding gear. He found both, -and was not long in getting the horse and Toofer accoutred -for the flight.</p> - -<p>Leading the animals out of the corral, he hitched them -to a post where they would be ready for use at a moment’s -notice; then he stealthily approached the cabin, -and peered through the window of the living room.</p> - -<p>He was disappointed.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[93]</span></p> - -<p>Frau Dinkelmann was wide awake. She had drawn a -chair in front of the door leading into the prison chamber, -and was sitting in it. She was knitting. Across -her ample lap, the ball of yarn dancing around it as it -unrolled, lay an old-fashioned pistol with a bright brass -cap under the hammer.</p> - -<p>The baron wondered if Frau Dinkelmann suspected -that he was planning to assist the imprisoned lady. She -was there on guard, that was evident.</p> - -<p>Impatiently the baron went back to the corral. Sitting -on a forkful of hay and leaning against the corral fence, -he smoked three pipes very slowly, and again went to the -house and stole a look through the window.</p> - -<p>There was the frau, vigilant as ever, her needles flying -and the ball dancing up and down the barrel and stock -of the old pistol.</p> - -<p>“Py shinks,” thought the baron, “vat oof she shdays -dere all nighdt?”</p> - -<p>The baron wasn’t afraid of the pistol—not for himself, -but the lady would be endangered if he tried to -take her away in spite of the watchful frau.</p> - -<p>No, it would be better to wait until Frau Dinkelmann -was sound asleep.</p> - -<p>The baron returned to his place by the corral fence. -Sitting down as before, he leaned back, and tried to beguile -the tedious wait by wondering who the lady was, -why she had been imprisoned in the house, and whether -or not it was she who weighed so heavily on Fritz Dinkelmann’s -mind.</p> - -<p>Then, being tired, and growing confused over his -knotty reflections, quite naturally he fell asleep. When -he opened his eyes again, a dingy gray light tinged the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[94]</span> -sky in the east. For a moment he blinked; then, with a -muttered exclamation, he jumped to his feet.</p> - -<p>“Himmelblitzen!” he gasped. “I haf shlept all der -nighdt, und now it iss gedding tay! Dit I tream dot -aboudt der laty vat vants to be resgued?”</p> - -<p>His troubled eyes wandered toward the cabin, and then -back to a post by the corral.</p> - -<p>No, he had not dreamed about the lady. There, -plainly before his eyes, was the boarded-up window, and -here, hitched to the corral post, stood the weary horse -and the mule.</p> - -<p>Softly the baron made his way to the living-room window, -and peered through.</p> - -<p>The lamp, burning dimly, cast a sickly light over the -room. In the chair in front of the door still sat the -frau, but her knitting lay in her lap, and her head was -bowed forward in slumber.</p> - -<p>Hastily the baron passed to the rear of the house, -picked up the axe, and pried at the boards covering the -window. The first one came away with such a crash -that he felt sure Frau Dinkelmann must have heard the -noise. But, no. There was no sound in the living room -to bolster up his fears.</p> - -<p>He went to work at the second board, and got it off -much more quietly than he had the first. It was not -necessary to remove any more. A woman’s face appeared -in the opening he had made, and a slender form -forced itself through the breach and dropped to the -ground at his side.</p> - -<p>“Oh, thank you, thank you!” said the woman, catching -one of the baron’s hands in both her own.</p> - -<p>The baron’s heart fluttered. She was young and -beautiful—and he had saved her from the Dinkelmanns!</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[95]</span></p> - -<p>“Dot’s all righdt, lady,” said the baron, throwing out -his chest, “making resgues like dose vas my long suit. I -peen a bard oof Puffalo Pill’s, und I learned how to do -dot mit him. You know Puffalo Pill, yes?”</p> - -<p>“I have heard of him,” the girl answered.</p> - -<p>For the first time the baron noticed that the girl’s face, -though very pretty, was haggard and worn.</p> - -<p>“Ach,” he murmured sympathetically, “you haf hat -some hardt times, I bed you! Vat iss your name?”</p> - -<p>“Hattie Perry.”</p> - -<p>“Vat a pooty name! Haddie Berry! I like dot name. -Vere you vant to go, Miss Berry? Schust shpeak der -vort, und it iss my law.”</p> - -<p>“I want to go back to my father’s ranch,” said the -girl, her voice trembling.</p> - -<p>“Dot’s vere ve vill go, you bed you. Iss it far avay?”</p> - -<p>“About three hours’ ride, if we hurry.”</p> - -<p>“Den ve vill hurry fasder as dot und make it in an -hour and a haluf,” laughed the baron. “Meppyso ve hat -pedder ged avay mit ourselufs. Der olt laty insite der -house has a bistol, und I don’d vant her to vake oop mit -herseluf und see us pefore ve ged a gouple oof miles -from here. Aber vait.”</p> - -<p>The baron reached into his pocket and pulled out three -twenty-dollar gold pieces. Reaching his hand inside the -window, he laid the gold pieces on the sill back of the -boards.</p> - -<p>“Why did you do that?” asked the girl curiously.</p> - -<p>“Dot’s somet’ing for der Dinkelmanns,” replied the -baron. “I bed you dey don’t got mooch, und I don’d -pelieve dey are as pad as vat some beobles mighdt t’ink. -Now, den, Miss Berry, off ve go for der ranch vere you -lif ven you are ad home.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[96]</span></p> - -<p>They hurried to the place where the animals had been -hitched. The baron untied both mounts, he and the girl -got into their saddles, and in a few minutes they were -moving briskly along the timbered bank of the Brazos.</p> - -<p>The baron felt like bursting into song. But he wanted -to make a good impression on the girl—and he knew he -couldn’t sing.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[97]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.<br /> -<span class="fs70">IN TROUBLED WATERS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The dawn gave way to morning, and the sun rose -while the baron and the girl were pushing on toward the -Star-A ranch. The girl piloted their course, and lost a -good deal of time giving a ranch, whose buildings stood -on a tongue of land half encircled by the river, a wide -berth.</p> - -<p>“For vy you do dot?” asked the baron.</p> - -<p>He had not, up to that moment, asked the girl any -questions about herself. Fully two hours had passed -since they had left the Dinkelmann cabin, and not half -a dozen words had been exchanged between him and -the girl.</p> - -<p>“A man lives there who is an enemy of my father’s,” -the girl answered. “He is a cattle baron, and his name is -Phelps.”</p> - -<p>“I peen some parons meinseluf,” said the Dutchman, -“aber I don’d got some cattle. Iss he a pad feller, dis -cattle paron?”</p> - -<p>“Yes; fully as unscrupulous as that other cattle baron -whose name is Benner.”</p> - -<p>“Vat a lod oof cattle parons, und all pad eggs. Vell, -vell, nefer mindt. Vere vas you ven der Dinkelmanns -gaptured you, Miss Berry?”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t the Dinkelmanns who captured me, but -some of Benner’s cowboys.”</p> - -<p>“Ach, aber I vish I hat peen aroundt dot time! Vere -dit it habben?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[98]</span></p> - -<p>“At the ranch. Nate had gone away early to look for -some stray cattle. He didn’t come back when he said he -would, and father went to hunt him up. Father didn’t -come back either, and I was in the house reading when—when—when -Benner’s cowboys came. I fought to get -away from them, but there were two of them, and what -could I do? They took me to Fritz Dinkelmann’s, and -I was told that Benner was coming to see me this morning. -Oh, but I am glad you came to my aid, Mr. von -Schnitzenhauser!”</p> - -<p>“So am I glad,” said the baron, “more glad as I can -tell. Vy ditn’t you dry und knock der poards off from -der insite, huh?”</p> - -<p>“I did try—but I had only my hands.”</p> - -<p>She lifted her hands to show him how they had been -bruised and scratched.</p> - -<p>“Ach, sure,” said the baron, “you couldn’t haf got -oudt oof dot blace mitoudt an axe, same as vat I hat.”</p> - -<p>“When I heard you come to the house last night,” the -girl went on, “I made up my mind to see if you would -befriend me. I was lucky in happening to have that bit -of lead pencil in my pocket, and the handkerchief served -very well for something to write on. I waited until I -knew Mrs. Dinkelmann was in the kitchen, and then I -tapped on the door to attract your attention, and began -pushing the handkerchief through. I can’t begin to tell -you how glad I was when I heard you rap on the boards -at the window, but you were a long time getting me out.”</p> - -<p>“Id vasn’t safe to dry it sooner,” explained the baron, -keeping quiet about the way he went to sleep; “der olt -laty vas on guard mit der bistol. Ach, vat a big bistol -id vas! Und I bed you id shoots like anyding.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[99]</span></p> - -<p>“Well,” sighed the girl, “I am safely away from the -house, and I shall soon be at home now.”</p> - -<p>“You bed someding for nodding aboudt dot. Aber tell -me vonce: Iss dot Dinkelmann a pad feller?”</p> - -<p>“No, I don’t think he is, baron. He owes Benner -money, though, and Benner forces Dinkelmann to do -things that are not right. Dinkelmann is more to be -pitied than condemned. He——”</p> - -<p>The girl broke off suddenly, and a startled look -crossed her face. Halting her horse, she bent her head -in a listening attitude.</p> - -<p>“Vat id iss?” queried the baron.</p> - -<p>“Can’t you hear it?” whispered the girl, a catch in her -voice. “Shooting!”</p> - -<p>Yes, the baron heard the reports. They came from -the direction of the Brazos, and he and the girl were -traveling toward the stream.</p> - -<p>“Let’s not go any farther this way,” cried the girl.</p> - -<p>“Who you t’ink iss making dot noise?” asked the -baron.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know,” she answered tremblingly, “but it -must be some of Phelps’ men or some of Benner’s.”</p> - -<p>“It dakes two tifferent kinds oof men for dot pitzness, -Miss Berry. Vone kindt does der shooding, und der -odder kindt iss shod ad. Vich is vich?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, I don’t know,” returned Hattie, “but I mustn’t -fall into the hands of those cowboys again! I would -rather die than have that happen.”</p> - -<p>“Id von’t habben,” said the baron valiantly. “Schust -make your trusting py me. I vill safe you, Miss Berry, -yah, so helup me!”</p> - -<p>For nearly an hour longer they continued to ride -across the open plain. Hattie would not consent to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[100]</span> -turn in the direction of the river, so they took a course -that paralleled the stream.</p> - -<p>They had a rough awakening from their fancied security. -Shouts were suddenly heard behind. They -looked around to see a large party of horsemen bearing -down on them at full gallop.</p> - -<p>The girl suddenly showed a spirit that aroused the -baron’s admiration. Now, when her fortunes were at -the lowest ebb, all her fears seemed to drop from her. -Her face became set and resolute, her eyes flashed, and -she goaded her horse to the best speed.</p> - -<p>The baron’s mule, although a scrawny-looking brute, -had both speed and bottom. Horse and mule, responding -to the urging of their riders, flung onward neck and -neck.</p> - -<p>“How many are there in that party, baron?” asked -the girl.</p> - -<p>“More as I like to see,” said the baron. “I should say -dere iss t’irty or fordy. Dere iss a greaser und a feller -in plack clothes at der head oof der gang. Who vas dose -din horns?”</p> - -<p>“The man in the Mexican clothes is Phelps,” replied -the girl, “and the other man is—Benner!” The last word -came with bitter emphasis. “If they capture us, baron, -I wish you would shoot that man in black.”</p> - -<p>“Anyt’ing to oblige a laty,” returned the baron -promptly, “aber I pedder do dot pefore ve ged gaptured, -nicht wahr? Meppyso I don’d ged no chance afder dot, -or——”</p> - -<p>The baron, at that moment, received the start of his -life. He gulped on his words, and nearly dropped from -his saddle.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[101]</span></p> - -<p>“Look vonce!” he gasped. “See who iss dot, Miss -Berry!”</p> - -<p>The baron pointed across the level to a spot where one -horseman after another was swinging over the crest of -a coulee—appearing as if by magic out of the earth, and -pointing straight for the baron and the girl.</p> - -<p>“Vone iss—meppy I vas treaming—vone iss Puffalo -Pill,” mumbled the baron; “und anodder iss Vild Pill, -und dere iss olt Nomat, und Leedle Cayuse, und some -odder fellers vat I don’d know.”</p> - -<p>“The other two,” cried the girl joyfully, “are my -father and Nate.”</p> - -<p>“From vere dit dose fellers come?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know, baron, but—but it is a blessing for us. -And there’s the sky pilot,” went on the girl, still feasting -her eyes on the approaching horsemen.</p> - -<p>“Dot gifs us enough men to make a pooty fighdt, aber -dose odder fellers haf seferal times as many as vat ve -got.”</p> - -<p>The scout, and those from the coulee, were not long -in coming to the side of the baron and the girl. There -were many things the baron and the girl wanted to -know from the scout and those with him, and many -things Buffalo Bill and his companions were eager to -hear from the Dutchman and Hattie, but the course of -events offered no opportunity for talk.</p> - -<p>“They’re gaining on us, pard!” shouted Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“I reckon nothin’ kin stave off a fight now,” yelled -old Nomad.</p> - -<p>“No bloodshed, I beg of you!” implored the sky pilot. -“Let me try my hand as peacemaker, friends! My profession -earns me that right.”</p> - -<p>Suddenly an idea flashed through the scout’s mind.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[102]</span> -Forcing his horse alongside the sky pilot’s roan, he -leaned from the saddle to shout:</p> - -<p>“You can act as peacemaker, parson, but it must be in -my way!”</p> - -<p>“Any way, Buffalo Bill,” cried the sky pilot, “just so it -really brings peace without the spilling of blood.”</p> - -<p>“Dunbar,” roared the scout, “ride alongside Miss -Perry.”</p> - -<p>The other horsemen shifted their positions so that -this manœuvre could be accomplished.</p> - -<p>“You, Jordan,” went on the scout, “ride up behind -Miss Perry and Dunbar. Get as close to them as -you can.”</p> - -<p>Every one in that party was a trained horseman. The -reins were handled in masterly fashion, and the racing -steeds weaved slowly into positions as ordered by the -king of scouts.</p> - -<p>“The rest of you,” thundered Buffalo Bill, “spread out -so that Lige Benner and Hank Phelps can see what Miss -Perry, Dunbar and the parson are doing.”</p> - -<p>No one, as yet, had any idea what Buffalo Bill had at -the back of his head.</p> - -<p>“What’s ther game, Buffler?” demanded Nomad, -swerving Hiderack toward the side.</p> - -<p>“The ombrays behind are getting ready to use their -guns!” warned Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Never mind their guns—yet,” answered the scout.</p> - -<p>“What am I to do?” called the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>The scout, pointing to Dunbar and Hattie with his -quirt as Bear Paw slashed along, yelled at the top of his -voice:</p> - -<p>“<em>Marry them!</em>”</p> - -<p>For an instant a dead silence fell over the group of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[103]</span> -racing fugitives; then, as the wonderful timeliness of -the scout’s plan grew clear in the minds of the rest -of the party, a cheer broke from the pards.</p> - -<p>“Well thought of!” cried the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>The book he had used, on the afternoon of the preceding -day in Hackamore, came from his pocket; then, with -the horses at break-neck pace, and Benner and Phelps -close enough to see and understand what was going on, -the sky pilot united Nate Dunbar and Hattie Perry in -the holy bonds of wedlock.</p> - -<p>There have been weddings in balloons, in the Mammoth -Cave, on mountain heights and in the depths of -mines, but where and when had a young couple ever -joined hands for a journey through life as Nate and -Hattie joined hands now?</p> - -<p>With the final words, “I pronounce you man and wife,” -Buffalo Bill ordered a halt.</p> - -<p>“A hollow square, pards,” he cried, “with Mrs. Dunbar -in the centre! We will face these cattle barons now and -see if Lige Benner will listen to reason.”</p> - -<p>Swiftly the horses were reined to a panting halt, and -as swiftly the scout and his pards, Dunbar, Perry and -Jordan took their places in a circle—all facing outward, -the girl in the centre and each man with his weapons -in hand—each man with the exception of the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>Thus they waited for Benner and Phelps and their -cowboys to reach them.</p> - -<p>The approaching horsemen came furiously. There -were fully twoscore. With skilled hands they manœuvred -their horses into a “surround,” and the little circle -formed by the scout and his friends formed a living and -determined barrier between Hattie Dunbar and the -barons.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[104]</span></p> - -<p>Benner brought his horse nose to nose with Bear Paw.</p> - -<p>“You,” yelped Benner in wild fury, shaking his fist at -the scout, “are the cause of all this! You and your infernal -pards!”</p> - -<p>“Look out, you whelp!” cried Wild Bill, “or that black -you’re wearing will be for yourself.”</p> - -<p>“Quiet, Hickok!” cried the scout; “I’ll do my own -talking. Lige Benner,” he went on, to the cattleman, -“you have kept this range stirred up quite long enough. -You have done about as you pleased, regardless of the -law. There is nothing further, now, to keep you at -loggerheads with the Perrys. Miss Perry has just become -Mrs. Dunbar!”</p> - -<p>“Be hanged to you!” yelped Benner. “The sky pilot -has made her Mrs. Dunbar, but any man with a gun -can make her a widow.”</p> - -<p>At that, both Dunbar and Perry nearly precipitated -hostilities by making a start at Benner. The cowboys -half drew their guns. A sharp word from the scout, -however, backed by a shrill command from Hattie, caused -Perry and Dunbar to resume their places in the cordon.</p> - -<p>“Let me speak,” said the sky pilot, lifting his hand. -“Men, men,” he begged, “think of what you have been -doing! There are many of you cowboys to whom I have -preached; you who have heard me before, listen to me -now. Boys, who is Lige Benner that you should cast -away your manhood and sink yourselves to his level in -carrying out his wicked and lawless schemes? You -know what is right! You know what is fair play! Has -Dick Perry received just treatment? Has he been dealt -with on the square? Answer me that! I have friends -among you; to those friends I would say, is your job<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[105]</span> -with Benner worth the price he compels you to pay for -it? Is——”</p> - -<p>“Another word out of you,” howled Benner, revolver -in his hand, “and, parson though you are, I’ll shoot you -out of your saddle. I’ll not sit here and let you try to -turn my men against me!”</p> - -<p>“And neither will you shoot me, Lige Benner,” answered -the sky pilot, folding his arms, “for saying what -you know to be the truth. You are a coward! Any -man who would act as you have acted, is a coward.”</p> - -<p>Benner made movements with his revolver hand which -the scout did not like.</p> - -<p>“Put up that gun, Benner!” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“I’m my own boss,” roared Benner, “and I’ll not put -it up till I get ready. I’d as soon send a bullet through -you as through the meddling sky pilot.”</p> - -<p>The scout spurred forward, straight toward Benner. -For an instant it seemed as though the cattle baron -would shoot, but he caught the scout’s eye and his hand -grew paralyzed.</p> - -<p>The scout, drawing rein at Benner’s saddle stirrup, -twisted the revolver out of his hand and flung it to one -of Benner’s cowboys.</p> - -<p>“Keep that for him,” said he. “Benner may be a big -man on the Brazos, but he’s not big enough to buck -the United States Government. Now listen, every one -of you men. I’ve something to say that’s of vital importance -to all of you.</p> - -<p>“The lawless doings on the Brazos have been heard of -far beyond the confines of Texas. It was to investigate -them that I came here. Chance, luck, what you will, -threw me right into the thick of plot and counterplot -before I had reached the town of Hackamore.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[106]</span></p> - -<p>“Do you, Benner, or you, Phelps, want a company of -regulars marching down the Brazos? Do you want your -ranch buildings burned, your cattle scattered? Do you -want to be run to cover and made to answer for your -criminal deeds? If you do, make just one more move in -this campaign of lawlessness. You seem to have all the -legal machinery of this county under your thumbs, but I -reckon you understand that fighting the United States -Government is a different proposition.</p> - -<p>“What do you fellows want, peace or war? I am here -to give you either. All you have to do is to make a -choice.</p> - -<p>“If you’re for peace, there are conditions. Perry must -be left alone. Any further persecution of him will be a -signal for that company of regulars. The Star-A cattle -that have been rustled and driven off must be returned. -Those are the terms for peace.</p> - -<p>“If you don’t want peace, then I give you my word -that you, Benner, and you, Phelps, will see the inside -of a federal prison, and that all your wealth won’t keep -you out. That’s about all I’ve got to say. Think it over. -I and my pards are going to the Star-A ranch with -Perry, and Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar and the sky pilot. -Try to interfere with us at your own peril.”</p> - -<p>The scout, with a final look straight into Benner’s eyes, -rode away.</p> - -<p>“Break away, there on the north!” Buffalo Bill cried -to the cowboys who fenced in that part of the circle.</p> - -<p>The cowboys cleared the way in a hurry.</p> - -<p>“Move on, friends!” cried the scout. “Take your -time, there’s nothing to fear.”</p> - -<p>Perry and the sky pilot, side by side, led the way out -of the circle of cattlemen. Behind them rode Mr. and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[107]</span> -Mrs. Dunbar. Then came the baron and Cayuse, Wild -Bill and Nomad, and, at the end of the procession, Buffalo -Bill.</p> - -<p>“Gentlemen,” laughed the scout, “I bid you good day. -Go home and do a little reflecting, all of you. You have -plenty to think about, I take it.”</p> - -<p>Benner snarled and showed his teeth like an angry -catamount. But the fight had all gone out of Phelps. -He was very much depressed.</p> - -<p>Slowly the scout’s party rode off across the plain -in the direction of the Brazos. For a long time the -cattle barons and their cowboys kept their horses at a -standstill, gazing after the scout. The only man in the -vanishing party who loomed ominous in their eyes was -Buffalo Bill. That day, if never before, the prince of -plainsmen had made his power felt.</p> - -<p>He, an agent of the government! Sent there to investigate -the lawlessness on the Brazos! And neither -Benner nor Phelps had ever dreamed of such a thing. -They had showed their hands, hiding nothing, daring -the scout and defying him. And now they knew that -he had been sent there to take the measure of their -culpability.</p> - -<p>“I reckon I’ve had enough of this Perry business,” -said Phelps. “You got me into it, Benner, confound -you! And what have you gained? Why, you’ve even -lost the girl.”</p> - -<p>“I’m not done yet,” scowled Benner.</p> - -<p>“You take my advice and throw up your hands.”</p> - -<p>“Not till I’m even with Perry and Buffalo Bill,” was -the snarling response.</p> - -<p>“Count me out of your schemes, then, from now on. -I tell you I’ve had enough.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[108]</span></p> - -<p>“Be hanged to you for a coward!” cried Benner. -“Come on, you boys that go with me.”</p> - -<p>The Benner forces separated from the Phelps outfit, -each detachment of cowboys going their different ways.</p> - -<p>“That fool’s going to get himself into more trouble, -Mac,” remarked Phelps to McDermott, one of his foremen.</p> - -<p>“That’s nothing to you, Hank,” replied the foreman.</p> - -<p>“Nothing to me, no. I’ve come out of this business -a heap better than I deserve. And I reckon I know how -to let well enough alone.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[109]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE MAN WITH A WARNING.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Nothing could have been more peaceful, that bright, -sunny morning, than the surroundings of the Star-A -ranch.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill sat out under the trees, a -dozen yards from the ranch-house door. They were -smoking their pipes and contemplating, with much satisfaction, -the happy and peaceful scene before them.</p> - -<p>“By gorry, pard,” said the Laramie man, “just hear the -girl in that old log shack tune up that pretty bazoo of -hers. Every once in a while she breaks into song. Joyful? -Well, I reckon!”</p> - -<p>“Contrast this scene with another of two days ago,” -returned Buffalo Bill. “The cattle barons, headed by -Lige Benner and Hank Phelps, were doing their best to -run Perry out of the Brazos country. Dunbar had been -treacherously waylaid and was being held a captive; -Perry had been made a prisoner and was in ropes at -the H-P ranch; and the girl had been spirited away by -Lige Benner, who hoped to break her will and make her -agree to become his wife. Then we came, Hickok—you, -and I, and the rest of our pards—and shook up -the whole bag of tricks. Dunbar and Perry were released, -and the marriage knot was tied by the sky pilot, -while the lot of us were racing away from Benner, -Phelps and forty of their cowboys. What we did was -certainly worth while.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve never helped to do anything, pard,” returned<span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[110]</span> -Wild Bill, “that I look back on with so much satisfaction.”</p> - -<p>“Nor I. We have cause to congratulate ourselves.”</p> - -<p>At that moment Nate Dunbar rode up to the cabin -door on his favorite riding horse. He was prepared -for a journey of some length, it seemed.</p> - -<p>Dropping down from the saddle, he turned to throw -his arms about his wife, who had hurried through the -door to bid him good-by.</p> - -<p>The pards turned their heads. When they looked up -again, Nate Dunbar’s horse was in front of them, and -the fine-looking young cowboy, his face wreathed in -smiles, was on the ground and reaching out his hand.</p> - -<p>“I’m off for town, amigos,” said he, “and I may be -gone for two days. There are supplies to be bought, -cowboys to be hired, and plenty of other business to be -looked after. Dick thinks I’m the one to go. It was -hard for Hattie to agree, but she always comes to time -when she understands a thing is for the best.”</p> - -<p>As the scout got up and wrung his hand, Dunbar bent -forward to whisper:</p> - -<p>“And there’s the wedding present for Hattie, you -know. I didn’t have time to attend to that yesterday, -when we were spliced on horseback, at twenty miles an -hour! But now,” and he withdrew his hand to slap a -jingling pocket, “I’ve both the time and the money, and -Hattie’s going to have a ring with a hundred-dollar -‘spark’ in it. Oh, I’m sure one happy man, pards, and -we all know we have Buffalo Bill and his friends to -thank for it!”</p> - -<p>“It has been pleasure enough for me and my pards to -get you out of your tangle here, Nate,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“Which is no dream at all, Dunbar,” laughed Wild<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[111]</span> -Bill. “When Pard Cody puts up a talk like that, he reflects -the feelings of all his pards. May your shadow -never grow less, amigo mio, and may you never say a -word that clouds the bright face of the girl in yonder -cabin. She’s the biggest prize that will ever come to -you in this life.”</p> - -<p>“Truer words were never spoken!” declared Dunbar, -flashing an affectionate glance at the cabin. “I’m hoping, -Buffalo Bill, that you and your pards will stay here -till I get back. I feel positive all our troubles are behind -us, but my mind will be easier about the Star-A ranch -if I know that you are here until I get back with an -outfit of cowboys.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t worry, Nate,” said the scout reassuringly. -“We’ll have to stay. The baron, old Nomad and Little -Cayuse have gone to Dinkelmann’s ranch for a day or -two, so Hickok and I will have to stay here till they -come back.”</p> - -<p>“Gracias!” Deep feeling throbbed in Nate Dunbar’s -voice as he added: “No man ever had better friends -than Buffalo Bill and pards, and neither Hattie, nor -Dick, nor I will ever forget what we owe you. I’d crawl -the length of the Lone Star State to do any of you a -good turn. Adios!”</p> - -<p>Nate Dunbar jumped for his saddle, his spurs rattled, -and he vanished along the trail through the timber, laying -a course for Hackamore.</p> - -<p>“That lad’s the clear quill, Pard Cody,” declared -Hickok, gazing after Dunbar and wagging his head. -“He’ll go far and do well, mark what I say. But he -seems to think that he’s not through with the hostile -cattle barons.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think he has any cause to be worried,” said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[112]</span> -the scout. “Hank Phelps, if what I hear is true, has -thrown up his hands and will have nothing more to do -with the lawless element on the Brazos. Lige Benner is -the only source of possible trouble; but, with public opinion -setting in strong for the Perrys, I don’t believe Benner -will dare let his animosity show itself. He——”</p> - -<p>The scout halted abruptly. Through the timber behind -him and the Laramie man came a rider at speed, his -horse lathered and blowing. The man in the saddle was -long and lean; his thin, hatchet-like face was full of excitement. -As he threw himself from his horse, the animal -staggered drunkenly with feet wide apart.</p> - -<p>“Suffering horn toads!” exclaimed the Laramie man, -passing his gaze from the nearly spent horse to the excited -newcomer. “From the looks of your horse, neighbor, -I reckon you only hit an occasional high place for a -good distance back.”</p> - -<p>“We flew,” grinned the man, “but we had ter. Ain’t -forgot me, have ye?”</p> - -<p>He looked at Wild Bill ingratiatingly.</p> - -<p>“Dot and carry one!” cried Wild Bill, recognizing the -newcomer suddenly. “Can this be Sim Pierce, the gent -I came company front with in Hackamore? Sim Pierce, -scion of the Pierces of San Antone?”</p> - -<p>“Aw’ shucks!” said Sim Pierce deprecatingly, drawing -a bar of chewing from his hip pocket, and loading -himself with one corner of it.</p> - -<p>Returning the tobacco to his pocket, he dropped down -on the bench on which the pards were sitting, chewed -wide and reflectively for a few moments, and hooked up -one knee between his hands.</p> - -<p>“Sim,” remarked Wild Bill, after the silence had begun -to grow embarrassing, “did you ride your caballo into<span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[113]</span> -a quiver just to come here and show Buffalo Bill and -me how you handle a plug of Cowboy’s Pride?”</p> - -<p>“Waal, not so you kin notice,” answered Sim. “I was -glad I seen ye out hyer by yerselves. It gives me a -chanst ter onbosom myself without lettin’ the Perrys -savvy.”</p> - -<p>“Perrys! Only one Perry and two Dunbars live in -that house now.”</p> - -<p>“Which I stand kerrected. Buffler Bill an’ pards have -shore done a heap fer the Perrys an’ Nate Dunbar. -Gosh-all-whittaker! Say, I’d have given my boots ter -see a weddin’ in the saddle, hosses slashin’ erlong like -all-possessed, sky pilot pufformin’ like he never done -afore! Say, I’ll bet that was some fine as a spectacle.”</p> - -<p>“Some, and that’s a fact, Sim,” said Wild Bill. “But -you’re not telling why you raced up here like a scared -coyote looking for home and mother. Does it pain -you any to get down to cases?”</p> - -<p>“Hyer’s where I git at it,” answered Sim. “That sky -pilot, Jordan, the feller as done the knot tyin’ while -the hosses was at a run, sent me hyer. He had a message -fer Buffler Bill an’ pards.”</p> - -<p>“Ah,” spoke up the scout. “What was the message?”</p> - -<p>“‘Tell Buffler Bill,’ says the sky pilot, ‘not ter leave -the Star-A ranch fer a spell yit. Tell him,’ he says -further, ‘that ther trouble ain’t over fer ther Perrys.’ -Things is hatchin’ right this minit, he allows, over ter -Lige Benner’s. Lige ain’t feelin’ none too good over the -way he got done up, an’ he’s plannin’ ter cut loose with -some other kind of er rough house.”</p> - -<p>“How did Jordan discover that?” queried Buffalo Bill.</p> - -<p>“One o’ Benner’s men, who’s a friend o’ Jordan’s, -sprung a leak. The sky pilot got all worked up. He’s a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[114]</span> -nervy ombray, that same Jordan, but he’s been takin’ -more physical exercise lately than what he kin stand. He’s -laid up fer repairs in the Delmonico <em>Ho</em>-tel in Hackamore.”</p> - -<p>“Not sick?”</p> - -<p>“Not him—jest tired like. Preachin’ the Gospel is -some differn’t from makin’ er splice in the saddle with -the hosses jest er-smokin’. Right strenyus work fer a -sky pilot, I call <em>that</em>.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of deviltry is Lige Benner hatching, Sim?” -went on the scout.</p> - -<p>“Benner’s man didn’t say—mebby he didn’t know—but -he allowed it was ter be pulled off some suddent. -Jordan thought you fellers might git a line on purceedin’s -an’ use yore original, Cody brand o’ kybosh.”</p> - -<p>“That’s all?”</p> - -<p>“That’s all. I’ll now go over ter the c’ral, put out -my hoss an’ hang eround till arter dinner; then I’ll p’int -fer Hackamore. Whar’s Nate?”</p> - -<p>“Gone to town. You’d have passed him if you’d come -the regular trail.”</p> - -<p>“Shucks! Say, I was in sich a big hurry that I kim -’cross lots. Waal, hyer’s fer ther c’ral.”</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce stepped toward his horse and laid hold of -the bridle reins.</p> - -<p>“Mind, Sim,” warned the scout as the man moved off, -“not a word about this to Mrs. Dunbar or Perry. There -may be nothing to it, and there’s no need of arousing the -fears of those in the house.”</p> - -<p>“Shore not,” flung back Pierce over his shoulder as -he moved away with his horse. “I’ll keep mum, all -right.”</p> - -<p>“What do you think about this, Hickok?” queried the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[115]</span> -scout thoughtfully, when he and the Laramie man were -again alone.</p> - -<p>“I don’t think that sky pilot would have sent Sim with -a warning unless there was good ground for worry.”</p> - -<p>“My notion, exactly. Jordan isn’t a man to shy at -trifles. But how are we to know what’s taking place -at Benner’s ranch?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve got a way for discovering that, pard. Listen.”</p> - -<p>With that, the Laramie man settled back and freed his -mind of a daring expedient which had abruptly occurred -to him.</p> - -<p>“It might be safe enough for Buffalo Bill or one of -his pards to call at Lige Benner’s ranch, but if one of -us dropped in there, compadre, how much would he -find out?”</p> - -<p>“Not much, and that’s a fact,” said Buffalo Bill. “Benner -is the kind of a snake-in-the-grass that strikes from -cover, and he hunts his cover well. If you or I went to -his place, Hickok, we might or might not come away -with our scalps; but—and mark this—if anything happened -to us, Lige Benner would fix things so he could -prove an alibi.”</p> - -<p>“Right-o. I wasn’t thinking along that line, however. -If Benner is laying his wires, Buffalo Bill or his pards -wouldn’t be able to discover anything; but if some one -went there who wasn’t known to be one of Cody’s pards, -there’d be a fine opportunity for getting a line on Benner.”</p> - -<p>“Well, yes. I’m not catching your drift, though, -Hickok.”</p> - -<p>“Here’s the drift: Suppose I fix up in different clothes -and ride to Benner’s? Maybe I’m a cowpuncher hunting -a job, and maybe I’m a Jew peddler, or any other thing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[116]</span> -that seems most likely to fill the bill. Benner wouldn’t -know me from Adam, and I’m willing to gamble my -spurs that I’d uncover a pay streak of information.”</p> - -<p>The scout shook his head dubiously.</p> - -<p>“Benner and all his men know you, pard,” said he. -“It’s a question whether you could hide your identity so -they wouldn’t know you. If you blew in there in a disguise, -and they discovered who you were, there’d be -fireworks and fatalities. Is it worth the risk?”</p> - -<p>“Not is it worth the risk, pard, but is there a chance -that the risk would work out? Personally, I wouldn’t -be averse to a little excitement, but——”</p> - -<p>“That’s the way you always stack up, Hickok, and -that’s the point that would work most against you.”</p> - -<p>“But,” went on Hickok, “I understand my responsibilities, -and that, if I don’t get away without arousing -suspicion, what information I pick up won’t do Perry or -the Dunbars any good. Which and wherefore is the -reason I’ll play my cards with care and caution. Besides, -you know how well I can make up. If I wasn’t -a pard of Cody’s, and mired in the West, I reckon I’d -be on the stage. Am I, or am I not, an actor?”</p> - -<p>“You are,” laughed the scout; “one of the best actors -I’ve seen in many a day. I remember how you played -the part of a vaquero, over in Arizona, and fooled the -rest of your pards.”</p> - -<p>“Ah! Well, if I could fool my pards, why can’t I fool -Benner and his outfit? I can, and I will. Just give -me leave to try, that’s all.”</p> - -<p>The scout reflected. When Wild Bill left only the -scout would be with Perry and Mrs. Dunbar. If Benner -and his men tried to make a raid on the Star-A, there -would be merry doings to follow and perhaps some losses<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[117]</span> -of Star-A property. But a raid was too open a warfare -for Benner, the scout knew. The unscrupulous cattleman -liked best a covert and more reprehensible hostility—something -like a bullet from ambush, or a knife in the -back. But, after the lesson Benner had received at the -hands of the scout and his pards, it was doubtful whether -he would even dare to launch lead from cover. If he -was planning reprisal against Perry and Dunbar, Benner -would proceed by more devious ways to effect his -purposes. It was necessary that his plans should be -known so that they might be guarded against.</p> - -<p>“While we’re hemming and hawing and sidestepping, -pard,” spoke up Wild Bill, “the plot is thickening over -at Benner’s. And Benner’s, you know, is a good two -hours’ ride down the Brazos. Come to centre quick, -so I can mosey along—if I’m going.”</p> - -<p>“We’re not at all sure there’s any plotting going on -at Benner’s,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“So far as that goes, we’re not sure of much of anything -in this world but death and taxes. Anyhow, Pard -Cody, about two minutes ago you rose to remark that -Jordan wasn’t a man to send a messenger with a warning -unless there was really something on the carpet.”</p> - -<p>“Nor do I think he is,” answered the scout. “Jordan, -for a sky pilot, is about as clear-headed, practical a man -as I ever met. But suppose it was part of Benner’s -game to steer this man of his against the sky pilot with -a fake report of trouble brewing? What if that’s a part -of Benner’s plan?”</p> - -<p>“How would Benner gain anything by that?” asked -Wild Bill, wrinkling his brows over this new phase of -the matter.</p> - -<p>“He might gain just the point you’re suggesting—that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[118]</span> -one of us ride to his ranch for investigation. Perhaps -that’s what he’s working for.”</p> - -<p>“So he can get hold of one of us?”</p> - -<p>“Possibly.”</p> - -<p>“Well, Benner’s long-headed, Pard Cody, but he’s not -so long-headed as all that comes to. I’ll gamble that -Benner’s man who tipped off the sky pilot was acting -in good faith. We know Jordan has friends at Benner’s; -and maybe Perry has a few there, too, and that they’re -trying to show friendship in the only way they dare, and -hold their jobs. Which is it, yes or no?”</p> - -<p>“Go ahead,” said the scout; “but, if you’re not back -by some time to-night, you’ll know I’m hitting the trail -on the hunt for you.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll get back, and don’t you forget that. Stay right -here for half an hour and I’ll show you something.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, as he spoke, got up from the bench. A -moment later he had disappeared in the bunk house behind -the ranch headquarters.</p> - -<p>The scout, filling and lighting his pipe, leaned back on -the bench and gave way to reflections that were not -wholly agreeable.</p> - -<p>Here, where he and his friends had wrought peace -and happiness on the Star-A section of the Brazos, had -suddenly appeared the ugly, serpent-like head of under-handed -war.</p> - -<p>Perry, just when he was securing the respect and confidence -of the cattlemen up and down the river—excepting -Benner, of course—might be called on to face more -troubles. And of these he had had enough, and more -than enough.</p> - -<p>Mr. and Mrs. Dunbar, too, might be rudely disturbed -in their new-found dream of happiness. This possibility<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[119]</span> -the scout regretted deeply, for he had taking a great liking -to Dunbar and his wife, and would have gone far to -insure their tranquil future.</p> - -<p>The scout wished that he had not allowed the baron, -the trapper and the little Piute to leave Perry’s for the -Dinkelmann ranch. If clouds were really beginning to -show in the peaceful skies, all the pards should be corraled -in one place, ready to hurl their united strength -against any quarter of the compass from which a sudden -call might come.</p> - -<p>“Podner, who lives hyer?”</p> - -<p>The raucous voice broke in suddenly on the scout’s -reflections. Lifting his eyes he stared at about as ornery -a specimen of the genus hobo as he had ever set eyes on.</p> - -<p>The man’s face was dirty; his slouch hat was full of -bullet holes and the crown was loose and flapping. -Through the crown protruded a few stray locks of unkempt -hair. Over the man’s left eye was a red handkerchief -bandage. His face was dirty. His ragged -blue flannel shirt and his torn, greasy trousers were -belted in at the waist with a section of frayed rope. On -one foot he wore a boot, and on the other a moccasin. -But he was riding a good horse, well accoutred—a -horse the scout recognized as Wild Bill’s.</p> - -<p>“Get off that horse, you!” cried the scout, rising -sternly. “If——”</p> - -<p>The scout’s voice trailed into silence, and the silence -was broken by a hearty laugh from the man in the saddle.</p> - -<p>“By gorry,” came the familiar tones of the Laramie -man, “if I didn’t fool the king of scouts himself, I’m a -yap! Whoosh! You must have mislaid the eagle eye, -pard! What chance has Benner got to get next to me -if you went so wide of the mark?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[120]</span></p> - -<p>The scout joined in his pard’s laugh.</p> - -<p>“You’ll do, Wild Bill,” said he, “all but the horse. -Your get-up don’t jibe with the riding gear and the animal -you’re riding. The horse and trappings will be a -dead give-away.”</p> - -<p>“Nary, Pard Cody. The horse and trappings are -going to be a big help.”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“Why, look. I come breezing up to Benner’s hangout -with a yarn to the effect that I lifted the horse at -the Star-A. That ought to get me in with Benner, if -he’s at all crooked. A man who’ll steal a horse will probably -be the sort of a chap he’d like to use in his present -game of cold deck and loaded ivories. I’ve the medicine -tongue for a job like that, don’t you think?”</p> - -<p>“You’re one of the most resourceful men in a pinch -I ever saw, Hickok,” declared the scout. “Lay your -own plans and carry them out in your own way, but be -sure and get back here to-night.”</p> - -<p>“That’s me. When I come, I’ll come loaded.”</p> - -<p>“With information, I hope, and with none of Benner’s -lead. So long, and good luck to you.”</p> - -<p>“Adios!”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill kicked his heels into Beeswax’s ribs and -started through the timber, en route down the river and -headed for Benner’s.</p> - -<p>“He’ll make good,” thought the scout, “and if there’s -anything brewing at trouble headquarters, Wild Bill will -hustle back with the news.”</p> - -<p>Getting up from the bench, he knocked the ashes out of -his pipe and went to join Perry and Sim Pierce in front -of the cabin.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[121]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">AT LIGE BENNER’S RANCH.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Lige Benner had his private quarters in a big adobe -house. The house capped a “rise” of ground, and from -its windows Benner could look below and see the big -bunk house, the huge “chuck shanty,” the blacksmith -shop, the tool sheds, the wagon shelters and one of his -horse corrals. In point of size the various buildings -formed a small village, inhabited by at least fifty men.</p> - -<p>The lord of the village lived on the low hill, kept -ceaseless vigilance over his men and ruled them with an -iron hand.</p> - -<p>It was currently reported that a love affair, in early -life, had ended disastrously for Benner and had soured -his disposition.</p> - -<p>Where he came from, when he settled on the Brazos, -no one knew. He had been so long in his present location, -however, that his original hailing place had long -since ceased to be a matter of any interest.</p> - -<p>Steers bearing his brand—the Circle-B—were numbered -by thousands, and ranged over many square miles -of country.</p> - -<p>At this particular time the cattle business was enjoying -unprecedented prosperity, and wealth flowed in on -Benner far and away beyond his powers of spending. -This very fact seemed to render him irritable. He -pictured to himself the delights which money could buy -in Galveston, San Antonio, New Orleans and New York, -and fretted because he dared not leave his ranch to go to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[122]</span> -places where his money could bring him a larger return -of enjoyment. He hadn’t a foreman whom he could -trust. A younger brother, a hunchback, lived with him, -but even this brother had little of his confidence. Jerry, -as the hunchback was called, was all well enough as an -aide, but if Benner had absented himself for any great -length of time from the ranch, Jerry would surely have -manipulated affairs to his own profit.</p> - -<p>Jerry was a schemer. Shrewd as a fox, he was as sly -as a serpent, brutal and utterly unscrupulous. His nature -seemed to have been warped into ugly channels when his -body was broken.</p> - -<p>Benner had given Jerry a home, and Jerry repaid his -brother by giving him advice. The advice, although not -always honest, never failed to redound to Lige Benner’s -benefit. So, while he had come to trust to Jerry’s shrewdness -in counsel, he came also to distrust his principles—principles -which Benner occasionally appropriated to his -own use.</p> - -<p>During the forenoon of the day that had witnessed the -call of Sim Pierce at the Star-A ranch, Lige Benner and -his hunchback brother were in the big living room of -the adobe house.</p> - -<p>Jerry’s crippled body was almost lost in the depths of -an easy-chair. He was smoking a home-made cigarette -and watching Lige with two brilliant, ferret-like eyes. -Lige Benner, deeply wrought up over something, was -pacing up and down the room.</p> - -<p>“What’s the use of fretting?” asked Jerry in his thin, -high-pitched, querulous voice. “Do as I tell you, Lige, -and you’ll get even with that outfit up the river.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t get the girl, can I?” fumed Lige, halting and -whirling on the crooked form in the chair.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[123]</span></p> - -<p>“You can get something better, Lige,” answered the -hunchback, his eyes glimmering, “and that’s revenge for -having lost the girl.”</p> - -<p>“Revenge on who?”</p> - -<p>“On Dunbar, on Perry—perhaps on Buffalo Bill and -his pards.”</p> - -<p>“Without making trouble for myself?”</p> - -<p>It was not so much the coward that spoke, as the -man of secret ways and dark.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Lige, and without making trouble for yourself,” -said Jerry. “I’ve thought it all out. That’s why I sent -one of the men to watch the Star-A ranch, and it’s why -I sent Red Steve to Hackamore after Abraham Isaacs.”</p> - -<p>“What in the fiend’s name are you intending to do -with Abraham Isaacs? How’ll he help me get revenge -on Perry, and Dunbar, and Buffalo Bill?”</p> - -<p>“Wait till Red Steve gets here with Isaacs.”</p> - -<p>A cackling laugh came from Jerry. He had a way of -laughing which was by sound alone, for not a muscle of -his cadaverous face moved. It was more the laugh of a -hyena than of a human being.</p> - -<p>“What you’ve got up your sleeve is too many for me, -Jerry,” growled Lige, “but if you can pull off the game -as you say, I’ll give you five thousand in gold. D’you -hear? Five thousand in yellow boys if you make trouble -for Perry and Dunbar without making any for me.”</p> - -<p>A greedy sparkle appeared and disappeared in the -hunchback’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“I’ll get that money, Lige,” said he, “and you can -bank on it.”</p> - -<p>Lige whirled and stared at him.</p> - -<p>“You’re an artful little devil,” he grunted, “and I -shouldn’t wonder if you made good.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[124]</span></p> - -<p>“I run to headwork, Lige,” piped Jerry, highly pleased -with the left-handed compliment. “I’m a cripple, and -can’t ever do anything worth while with my body—but -it’s the mind that rules! It’s the brain that accomplishes -things! If I can’t work myself I can make others work -for me. If——”</p> - -<p>A man, covered with the dust of the trail, appeared in -the open outside door.</p> - -<p>“Come in, Hamp!” cried Jerry, breaking off his words -the moment his eyes had fallen on the man. “You’re -just from the Star-A ranch?”</p> - -<p>Hamp pushed into the room and stood staring grimly -from Lige to Jerry, snapping at his leg with his quirt.</p> - -<p>“That’s whar I’m from,” he answered.</p> - -<p>“You watched the place, Hamp?”<ins class="corr" id="tn124" title="Transcriber’s Note—“quereid the hunchback eagerly” changed to “queried the hunchback eagerly”.">queried the hunchback eagerly</ins>.</p> - -<p>“Shore I did, all last night an’ half the forenoon. -When somethin’ happened I thort ye wanted ter know. -I come right hyer with it.”</p> - -<p>“No one saw you watching the place, Hamp?”</p> - -<p>“Nary a soul.”</p> - -<p>“Who’s there?”</p> - -<p>“Buffler Bill an’ pards, Mr. an’ Mrs. Dunbar, an’ -Perry.”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner scowled at mention of Mrs. Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“They’re there now, Hamp?” went on Jerry.</p> - -<p>“Naw, not now. When I left only Buffler Bill, Wild -Bill, the gal an’ Perry was thar. The Dutchman, the ole -juniper of a trapper an’ the little Injun had left fer a -call on Dinkelmann. When Dunbar pulled out, I pulled -out, too.”</p> - -<p>The fact that Dunbar had “pulled out” aroused considerable -interest in Lige and Jerry.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[125]</span></p> - -<p>“Why did Dunbar leave, and where did he go, Hamp?” -demanded Jerry.</p> - -<p>“Dunbar pulled out fer Hackamore ter be gone two -or three days. He’s gone arter cowboys ter help run -the ranch, arter supplies, an’”—here a snarling laugh -came from Hamp’s bearded lips—“ter git a diming ring -fer his wife.”</p> - -<p>The hunchback slapped his clawlike hands.</p> - -<p>“I’d reckoned on taking the first fall out of Perry,” -said he, “but events are shaping up so Dunbar is to get -it. That’s all, Hamp.”</p> - -<p>“Hit the bunk house,” said Lige; “no range work for -you, Hamp, till to-morrow. Keep mum about what -you’ve done, too. There’s twenty pesos in gold for you, if -I learn you haven’t said a word about the work you’ve -done.”</p> - -<p>Hamp mumbled something under his breath, turned -and shuffled out.</p> - -<p>“We’re getting along in fine shape, Lige,” crowed the -hunchback. “It won’t be long till you get part of your -revenge now. We’ll take care of Dunbar first.”</p> - -<p>“I want to get Perry, too,” snapped Lige; “don’t forget -that while your brain’s at work.”</p> - -<p>“It’ll be easy to get Perry—but Dunbar first, Dunbar -first.”</p> - -<p>“And what about Buffalo Bill?”</p> - -<p>“He’ll come harder, and it’ll take more scheming, -Lige. We’ll save Buffalo Bill for the last. Oh, this is -fine—finer than I expected. So Dunbar has gone to -Hackamore to buy a diamond ring for Mrs. Dunbar, -hey?”</p> - -<p>Jerry went off into one of his mirthless cackles again.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[126]</span></p> - -<p>“It couldn’t have happened better, Lige,” he declared, -“honest it couldn’t.”</p> - -<p>“Stop your confounded sputtering and tell me what -you’re going to make happen? What are you keeping -me in the dark for?”</p> - -<p>“I’m keeping you in the dark, Lige, until I can make -sure of Isaacs.”</p> - -<p>“Isaacs is going to help?”</p> - -<p>“Yes, Lige, if I can get him to. Have you got any -influence with Abraham Isaacs?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve bought stuff from him.”</p> - -<p>“Then buy some more stuff from him, Lige! Buy as -much as you can, but don’t take the stuff or pay him the -money until he’ll promise to help us.”</p> - -<p>“Ole Abe Isaacs would sell his soul if he saw a chance -for profit. I can make a deal with him, but what in -blazes can that old Jew do for us?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you later, Lige, when——”</p> - -<p>“Oh, be hanged to you.”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner whirled away and stepped into the open -door. As he did so, a cowboy hurried up from the foot -of the hill.</p> - -<p>“Feller down there wants a job, Benner,” grinned the -cowboy.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got all the men I want.”</p> - -<p>“He’s a hoss thief, I reckon,” went on the cowboy, -“an’——”</p> - -<p>“If you’re sure of that,” cut in Benner sharply, “send -the fellow to Hackamore with a couple of the men.”</p> - -<p>“But if he is a hoss thief, then he’s been liftin’ some -o’ the cattle belongin’ ter Buffler Bill’s pards an’——”</p> - -<p>“Been stealing horses belonging to Buffalo Bill’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[127]</span> -pards?” demanded Benner. “Send the man up here and -tell him to bring the horse.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Lige,” said Jerry. “It’ll pay to look -into this.”</p> - -<p>Lige and Jerry Benner stood in the door of the adobe -house as the stranger came up the hill.</p> - -<p>“He looks like a bad egg,” muttered Lige.</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Lige,” said Jerry, “he does. I reckon -either of us is competent to tell a bad egg from a good -one.”</p> - -<p>Lige didn’t like the tone of his brother’s voice, and -turned on him sharply. Jerry didn’t take his eyes from -the figure advancing up the slope, but the weird laugh -came through his motionless lips.</p> - -<p>Before the brothers had a chance to talk any further, -the stranger came to a halt at the door. His horse was -a “rangy” animal and undoubtedly possessed both speed -and bottom; and the trappings, although showing signs -of hard usage, were of the best.</p> - -<p>The ragged and tattered man in the saddle did not -harmonize with his equipment. Any one could see, with -half an eye, that something was wrong.</p> - -<p>“Who are you?” demanded Lige Benner roughly.</p> - -<p>The man on the horse pulled down the brim of his -ragged old hat, drew the back of a dirty hand across -his lips and answered:</p> - -<p>“Gringo Pete Billings is the handle I tote, amigo. -Don’t go fer ter think I’m as tough as what I look, kase -I ain’t.”</p> - -<p>“You couldn’t be, gringo,” spoke up Jerry, with a -cackle.</p> - -<p>Gringo Pete pulled himself together and stared at the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[128]</span> -big-headed, short-bodied, long-armed form at Lige Benner’s -side.</p> - -<p>“Say, I’m convarsin’ with Lige Benner. Aire you -him? Which of ye is him, huh?”</p> - -<p>“I’m Lige Benner,” said the rancher.</p> - -<p>“Then kindly request Leetle Sawed-off ter hold his -yaup. I want him ter cork, I do. I don’t jest savvy -what he says, but someways his tork grinds on me er -heap.”</p> - -<p>“Never mind what you like, or don’t like,” returned -Lige Benner sharply. “Tell us what you want here?”</p> - -<p>“I want er job, that’s what.”</p> - -<p>“Where are you from?”</p> - -<p>“Ever’whar. Thar ain’t no settled place whar I hail -from.”</p> - -<p>“What sort of a job do you want?”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t pertic’ler. Anythin’ I kin git.”</p> - -<p>“What can you do?”</p> - -<p>“Whatever anybody wants me ter do. I ain’t pertic’ler -about that, nuther.”</p> - -<p>“What ails your eye?”</p> - -<p>“Had er argyment with er greaser. The eye’ll be all -right in er month, but the greaser’ll be laid up fer a -y’ar, anyways. Oh, I’m some persimmons on the wrassle! -Ain’t no three greasers kin git the best o’ me when -I’m feelin’ right.”</p> - -<p>“What have you been doing lately?”</p> - -<p>Gringo Pete ran his one uncovered eye thoughtfully -over Lige Benner, then lifted it thoughtfully to the blue -sky.</p> - -<p>“Say,” he answered finally, “you got ter have my pussonal -hist’ry? Kase if ye hev, I reckon I’ll look fer -a job some’rs else.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[129]</span></p> - -<p>He picked up the reins as though he would ride on.</p> - -<p>“Wait, Gringo!” chirped Jerry. “Lige, stop him. He’ll -be useful to us.”</p> - -<p>“I was going to stop him, anyway,” returned Lige -Benner, getting around in front of Gringo’s horse. -“Don’t be in a rush,” he added. “You’ve got a horse -here that don’t belong to you.”</p> - -<p>“Waal,” returned Gringo, “does it belong ter you?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p>“Then what reason ye got ter find fault, huh?”</p> - -<p>“No reason at all. I’d like to know, though, where -you stole the animal, and how.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t steal it—jest borried it.”</p> - -<p>“Well, where did you ‘borrow’ the horse?”</p> - -<p>“Back at the Star-A ranch. Walked inter the c’ral -big as life, put on the gear an’ rode off. That’s all thar -was to it. When I git through with the critter, I’m -goin’ ter take it back.”</p> - -<p>“You must be a pretty slick thief if you could steal -a horse belonging to one of Buffalo Bill’s pards, and -make a safe getaway.”</p> - -<p>A fierce look crossed the dirty face of Gringo Pete.</p> - -<p>“I don’t mind tellin’ ye,” he scowled, “that the reason -I took the animile is bekase it belonged ter one o’ that -ole rawhide’s pards. Some day, ye kin bet yer bottom -dollar, I’m goin’ ter git Buffler Bill’s skelp!”</p> - -<p>These remarks caused both Lige and Jerry to take renewed -interest in their unsavory visitor.</p> - -<p>“What have you got against Buffalo Bill?” asked -Lige, with a significant look at Jerry.</p> - -<p>“What hev I got ag’in him?” shouted Gringo, “me?” -He stood up in the stirrups and shook his fist up the -river. “Wasn’t it him as trimmed me fer all I was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[130]</span> -wuth? Wasn’t it that thar long-haired, meddlin’ coyote -that busted up my bizness an’ took ev’ry dollar I got in -the world? An’ ain’t I follered him all the way from -Arizony ter Texas jest ter play even?”</p> - -<p>“How did he trim you?” demanded Lige Benner, -more and more interested.</p> - -<p>Gringo Pete suddenly collapsed into his saddle.</p> - -<p>“I’m torkin’ more’n what I ort,” he mumbled. “I belonged -ter a gang this hyar long-haired trouble-chaser -put out o’ bizness. That’s all I’m tellin’. I want a job -hyar bekase Buffler Bill is on the Brazos, an’ I want ter -be nigh him. When he leaves—if he ever does—I’ll -leave, too. I’ll foller him ter Ballyhack but what I’ll land -on him afore I’m done. Now, do yer torkin’. Am I -ter stay hyer, er am I ter ride on?”</p> - -<p>“Stay here, Gringo,” piped Jerry.</p> - -<p>“Get down,” added Lige. “I’ll have one of my men -take care of your horse. I reckon we can give you a -job.”</p> - -<p>Gringo Pete got down and Lige Benner yelled for one -of his men to come up from below.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ye go ter puttin’ that hoss in yer wrangler’s -herd,” protested Peter, “an’ don’t go gittin’ my gear -mixed up with yer punchers’ equipment. S’posin’ some’un -from ther Star-A blowed in hyer huntin’ that ’ar hoss?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll have the animal picketed down there among those -trees,” said Lige, pointing to a little grove at the foot of -the slope and on the river bank. “Your ridin’ traps will -be left with the animal. If any one comes here from -the Star-A looking for the horse, it’s a safe gamble the -brute won’t be found. Make your mind easy about that, -Gringo. Go into the house.”</p> - -<p>Gringo Pete turned and followed Jerry into the living<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[131]</span> -room. Lige lingered in front to give orders to the man -who had come for the horse. When Lige got into the -house, Gringo was comfortably seated in a rocking-chair, -smoking a black cigar which Jerry had given him.</p> - -<p>“Lige,” said Jerry, fixing his glittering eyes on his -brother, “I’ve got a place for Gringo in my department.”</p> - -<p>That was the first time Lige Benner had learned that -Jerry had a “department” at the ranch.</p> - -<p>“All right,” said Lige, “make your own deal with -him.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to have him work with Red Steve, Lige.”</p> - -<p>Red Steve was always called on for the murderous, -underhand work that could not be safely entrusted to any -one else. To yoke Gringo with Red Steve meant that -the stranger was to be given labor of the “strong-arm” -variety without delay.</p> - -<p>“Have it your way, Jerry,” answered Lige.</p> - -<p>“I’d like ter fix it so’st I kin have a leetle time o’ my -own, now and then,” put in Gringo. “’Casionally I’d like -ter take a pasear up the Brazos, keepin’ track o’ Buffler -Bill.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll have plenty of time for that, Gringo,” said -Jerry, with another of his weird laughs. “I’ll——”</p> - -<p>A man appeared in the door—a red-haired, evil-looking -Texan.</p> - -<p>“I’m back,” the newcomer bawled, “an’ I’ve got Abraham -Isaacs along.”</p> - -<p>“Dry up, Steve!” called Lige angrily. “Can’t you see -we’re not alone here?”</p> - -<p>Lige turned to Jerry. The hunchback was already -on his feet and opening a door leading into a rear room.</p> - -<p>“In here with you, Gringo,” said Jerry. “When I’m -ready to talk with you again I’ll let you know.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[132]</span></p> - -<p>“What am I ter do in thar?” queried Gringo Pete, -moving toward the open door.</p> - -<p>“You’re to stay in that room till you’re called, Gringo,” -replied the hunchback.</p> - -<p>Gringo Pete passed through the door. It was closed -behind him, and he heard a bolt shoot into place.</p> - -<p>“By gorry!” thought Gringo Pete, otherwise Wild -Bill, “suppose they’ve cottoned to the fact that I’m a -fake. And suppose they have shoved the bolt on me, not -because they want to have a private talk with this Isaacs, -but because they are making me a prisoner on general -principles? Well, we’ll see,” he finished grimly. “That -talk I put up seemed to sink pretty deep.”</p> - -<p>He looked around him. His slouching manner had -dropped from him as if by magic, and he had instantly -become the alert, energetic Laramie man, ready for any -turn of the wheel of fate.</p> - -<p>He was in a small room—a room with a single window -opening in the direction of the river. Crossing to the -window he looked out.</p> - -<p>The cowboy called by Lige Benner was moving down -the hill and toward the small grove with Beeswax. What -concerned Wild Bill most, however, was the figure of -the red-haired Texan, leaning against the wall of the -house, close to the window, and evidently on guard.</p> - -<p>“They sent Red Steve there to make sure I didn’t try -to get away,” muttered Wild Bill. “Oh, I’m going to -like this job, I know I am. It has all the exciting trimmings -that capture my nimble fancy.”</p> - -<p>There was a table and a bed in the room. In one -corner, also, there was a stone fireplace, built in the Mexican -style. The stone chimney ran up along the end of -the partition that separated the chamber from the living<span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[133]</span> -room. Recalling the “lay” of the living room, Wild -Bill remembered that there was a fireplace in that department, -and in the corner. The two angles formed -by the partition and the adobe wall of the house, gave -opportunity for two Mexican fireplaces from the one -chimney—a fireplace in each room.</p> - -<p>With a stealthy, reassuring glance through the window -at the lounging form of Red Steve, Wild Bill -crossed to the narrow fireplace, crawled into it and stood -upright.</p> - -<p>Voices reached his ears from the living room, and -every spoken word was clear and distinct.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[134]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">A FIENDISH PLOT.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The flues from the two fireplaces joined at a point -a little way above Wild Bill’s head. The sound of -voices, coming through the fireplace in the living room, -ascended the flue and echoed down to the listener’s ear. -The sound was amplified, in its passage, as though it had -come through a whispering gallery.</p> - -<p>“I want to buy some stuff, Isaacs,” came the voice of -Lige Benner. “What have you got in that old grip?”</p> - -<p>“I haf got vatches, der finest dot efer vas brought into -Texas, mein friendt,” were the words of Isaacs. “Und -I haf brecious shtones like you nefer see pefore—rings, -und sooch like. Vat it iss you vant, mein friendt? Nodding -is too goot for you rich cattle barons—und so I -pring nodding but der best to der cattle country. Vat iss -it you vant?”</p> - -<p>“I spoiled that five-hundred-dollar watch I bought of -you a month ago, and I’d like another.”</p> - -<p>“I schust sold Hank Phelps a fine vatch—ach, so fine!—for -six hundret tollar. He had chewels all ofer him, -yes. Dot vatch vas der piggest bargain yet. I lose -money on him—so much as fifty tollar. Hank Phelps -told me dot he spoil a vatch, too.”</p> - -<p>“I want a better watch than Phelps bought,” said -Benner.</p> - -<p>“Ach, so! Vone baron geds someding, den der odder -baron vants someding better. Here iss der king of all -vatches, der best vatch in Texas. I gif you der vatch<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[135]</span> -for one t’ousant tollar, und I lose one hundret tollar on -him by wholesale. But you vas my friendt, Benner, und -I vould do a lot for you, yes.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, uncomfortably situated in the fireplace, was -disappointed. He thought he was going to overhear -something bearing on Perry and the plot Benner was -said to be hatching against the Star-A rancher. But it -seemed that Benner had merely summoned Abraham -Isaacs to the ranch to buy some jewelry.</p> - -<p>Those flush days in Texas had started the cattlemen -to spending their money right and left. Wealth was -lavished on watches and diamonds, and a class of peddlers -had sprung into existence, the like of which had -never been known before—and has never been known -since.</p> - -<p>Hebrews traveled the length and breadth of the cattle -country, carrying satchels filled with diamonds and -watches. It is said that the value of the contents of these -old satchels sometimes amounted to as much as two hundred -thousand dollars! And, what is still more remarkable, -the peddlers were never molested while riding -across the lonely plains.</p> - -<p>Lige Benner beat the Hebrew down to eight hundred -dollars for the watch. He also selected a watch charm, -diamond studded, for four hundred dollars, and a chain -for a hundred more. This made a purchase of thirteen -hundred dollars, all told, on which the crafty Isaacs -would realize, at the least, full five hundred dollars in -profit. A good day’s work for Isaacs, but——</p> - -<p>“I can give you the gold right now for all that plunder, -Isaacs,” said Lige Benner, “but I won’t until you -agree to do something for Jerry here.”</p> - -<p>“Hey?” queried the Jew, with a gasp. “Vat iss it you<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[136]</span> -vant me to do? A sale iss a sale, mein friendt, mitout -anyding extra.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you’ll do this for Jerry, or there won’t be any -sale.”</p> - -<p>“What iss it?”</p> - -<p>Here the voice of the hunchback entered the conversation. -The talk was getting interesting, and Wild Bill -listened with all his ears.</p> - -<p>“Here it is, Abe. A young fellow by the name of -Dunbar has gone to Hackamore to buy a diamond ring. -I want you to sell it to him, Abe.”</p> - -<p>“Iss dot all? I vill be gladt.”</p> - -<p>“No, Abe, that’s not all. Are there any other diamond -merchants in Hackamore?”</p> - -<p>“I’m der only vone.”</p> - -<p>“Then Dunbar will have to buy of you?”</p> - -<p>“He vill haf to buy of me if he buys of anypody, yes.”</p> - -<p>“Good! Now, when he starts to leave town, or just -after he leaves, I want you to accuse him of stealing -some of your plunder. Do you understand, Abe?”</p> - -<p>“But vat if he don’t shteal him?”</p> - -<p>“Accuse him, anyway.”</p> - -<p>“Den maybe I get meinself into troubles. I say he -shteal, und he don’t shteal. Vat vill happen mit me?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take care of that, Abe. Have you got any bogus -diamonds along with you, Abe?”</p> - -<p>“Sure I haf. I carry der paste chems for peoples dot -don’t vas aple to puy der real shtones. Aber I don’t -pring any of dem here to Benner, no, pecause I knows -he vants only der best, yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, I want some of that bogus jewelry, Abe. -You’ll accuse Dunbar of stealing from you; the sheriff -will have to chase after him, and look through his saddlebags.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[137]</span> -The stones will be found in the saddlebags, Abe, -so you won’t get yourself into trouble.”</p> - -<p>“How vill der shtones get into der sattlepags if Dunbar -don’t take dem?”</p> - -<p>“Leave that to me, Abe. Will you do as I say?”</p> - -<p>There followed a brief silence.</p> - -<p>“I don’t like dot,” said the Jew finally. “It looks pad -for me to mix in sooch business. Hein, hein! No, I -cannod assist mit it.”</p> - -<p>“Then,” came the voice of Benner, “I don’t want this -truck I’ve picked out. Keep the stuff, and I’ll wait till -the next peddler blows in.”</p> - -<p>“You von’t take vat you puy?” cried Isaacs, with a -groan of dismay.</p> - -<p>“Not unless you help Jerry.”</p> - -<p>“Subbose I say dot I help him, und subbose I don’t? -I got your money, und you got der vatch und der odder -t’ings. How about dot?”</p> - -<p>“Not so fast, Abe,” chimed in Jerry. “Lige is going -to give you five hundred dollars in gold to bind the bargain, -and you’re to keep the stuff he has bought until -after this flare-up with Dunbar. When that’s over, Abe, -you come here and give Lige his jewelry, and take the -rest of your money.”</p> - -<p>“Chentlemen,” wailed the Jew, “I don’t like dis business! -But vat can I do? I haf to lif. Yes, yes, I -vill do vat you say, but it iss a hardt bargain.”</p> - -<p>“Hard bargain!” cried Lige Benner derisively. “Why, -you old skinner, you’re soaking everybody in the cattle -country, and you don’t let it worry you very much. You -haven’t got a hair-trigger conscience, Abe, not by a -long shot.”</p> - -<p>“I don’d soak nopody, mein friendt, nefer. I sell so<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[138]</span> -close to der cost dot I vill be ruined if I don’t raise der -prices vone of dose days.”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner laughed at this.</p> - -<p>“Remember this, Abe,” went on Jerry: “You will be -as deep in the plot as anybody, and if you say a word -about the scheme you will get yourself into trouble, -but——”</p> - -<p>“Ach, Himmel!”</p> - -<p>“But if you keep still, Abe, nobody will be the wiser, -and nothing will happen to you or to us. Understand, -Abe?”</p> - -<p>“Yah, you bet you I geep so still as a clam. I don’t -speak nodding at all to anybody.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to go right back to Hackamore, Abe, so -as to be sure Dunbar doesn’t get away from town before -he buys the diamond ring of you.”</p> - -<p>“Vat tifference does it make, Cherry, vedder he puys -from me?”</p> - -<p>“Why, Abe, if you have dealings with him it will -make it look more reasonable when you accuse him of -stealing from you. Can’t you see that?”</p> - -<p>“Vat a fine headt for sooch dings you haf, mein -friendt! Yah, I see dot. I vill make it look so reasonaple -as I can. Gif me der fife hundret tollars und I vill -go pack by der town.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill could hear some one moving about the -room. After that there was a jingling of gold.</p> - -<p>“How I like der fine yellow goldt!” came the greedy, -gloating voice of Isaacs. “See how dot shines! Vat a -rich mans you was, Misder Benner!”</p> - -<p>“Never mind that,” said Benner dryly. “Count the -stuff and then hike for Hackamore. See that this game<span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[139]</span> -is played right, Isaacs, or you’ll never sell any more -stuff on the Brazos.”</p> - -<p>“I do der best vat I can, chentlemen; und I am to -get der resdt of der gold ven I get droo?”</p> - -<p>“You are,” said Benner. “In the meantime, you have -the plunder and part of the purchase price. That gives -you the long end of the deal.”</p> - -<p>There was a little more talk, and then Abraham -Isaacs, having identified himself with as villainous a -scheme as was ever hatched, took his leave.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, frowning blackly, got out of the fireplace -and into the room. Stepping to the window he looked -cautiously out.</p> - -<p>Red Steve was still leaning against the wall of the -building, and apparently had not moved since Wild Bill -had looked at him last. The Laramie man went over -and seated himself in a chair.</p> - -<p>“The fiends!” he muttered, anger mounting high in -his breast. “So that’s to be Lige Benner’s vengeance -on Nate Dunbar, is it? He’ll take away the lad’s good -name, get him sent to prison, and cover Mrs. Dunbar -and Dick Perry with disgrace! They’d never stay in -the cattle country after such a game as that! Lucky I -came here! By gorry, this might have been pushed -through to a success if I hadn’t got next to it. I reckon -I’ve learned enough. My next move is to get away -and let Pard Cody know how I’ve developed this pay -streak. A quick move will save Perry and Dunbar. -A——”</p> - -<p>The bolt on the other side of the door was shoved -back and the door pushed open.</p> - -<p>“Come out here, Gringo,” said Jerry Benner, showing<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[140]</span> -his thin, wizened face; “come out here and we’ll tell -you what you are to do.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill had been forgetting that he was to be -hired by Lige Benner.</p> - -<p>But this would give him an opportunity to get away -from the Circle-B outfit and strike a bee line for the -Star-A ranch. He got up and passed out into the living -room.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[141]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE HUNCHBACK’S QUICK WIT.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Red Steve had been summoned from his post and into -the living room. He was there to meet Wild Bill when -he entered. Lige Benner was also there, an exultant -look on his face which proved he was well pleased -with the treacherous work planned by his brother. -Isaacs, of course, was already on his way back to Hackamore.</p> - -<p>“Red Steve,” said Jerry, waving a hand toward Wild -Bill, “this is Gringo Pete Billings, who comes from -nowhere on a horse belonging to one of Buffalo Bill’s -pards. By the same token, Steve, Gringo hates Buffalo -Bill, and I think he’s a good enough hater to be a valuable -man for the White Caps.”</p> - -<p>Red Steve passed his keen little eyes over Wild Bill, -measuring him with a stare that would have made almost -any one else but the Laramie man uncomfortable and -apprehensive.</p> - -<p>“How am I sizin’ up, friend?” grinned Wild Bill. “My -clothes ain’t none too good, but they’re the best I got -since Cody an’ pards got through with me, over in Arizony.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill scowled and leaned against the wall.</p> - -<p>“Ye don’t look none too promisin’ as a good citizen,” -growled Red Steve, “but what I want fer the White -Caps ain’t good citizens, but fellers that’ll do what I -tell ’em. Ye say ye’ve got it in fer this king o’ scouts?”</p> - -<p>“Want me ter sing it?” yelped Wild Bill. “Ain’t I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[142]</span> -follered Buffler Bill from Arizony jest ter git even with -him? Ain’t I hyer on the Brazos jest a-campin’ on his -trail?”</p> - -<p>“What’re ye wantin’ ter do ter that feller as is called -the king o’ scouts?”</p> - -<p>“The wust I kin.”</p> - -<p>“Supposin’ he was staked out on the perary, an’ a -thousand head o’ stampedin’ steers run over him?”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill’s blood began to boil. For a moment—just -a moment—it seemed as though he would throw off his -rôle of avenger for fictitious wrongs and tell Red Steve, -Lige and Jerry just what he thought of their murderous, -cold-blooded schemes. But he got a grip on himself -at the right instant, and went on with the part he was -playing.</p> - -<p>“Kin ye do it, Red Steve?” he demanded. “Tork’s -cheap, but it takes somethin’ besides tork ter git Buffler -Bill in a fix like that.”</p> - -<p>“Nigh ter Crowder’s ole c’ral, clost ter the Brazos, -thar’s a thousand head o’ Circle-B cattle rounded up. -The White Caps’ll hev charge o’ them cattle, an’ the -longhorns aire goin’ ter git away. The stampede’ll head -over ther place whar Buffler Bill an’ Dick Perry aire -staked out. Arter it’s over, an’ them stakes aire pulled, -the hull play’ll look like er happenchance. The scout -an’ Perry got in the way o’ ther herd; they was on foot, -an’ they couldn’t save theirselves, not noways.” A savage -grin crossed Red Steve’s villainous face. “What -d’ye think, Gringo Pete?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I think ye’re some hard ter beat if ye kin pull off -a game like that. How’re ye figgerin’ ter do it?”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill’s “pay streak” was developing undreamed-of -possibilities. Used though he was to the merciless tactics<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[143]</span> -of the frontier, his blood was running cold at these -desperate schemes, so calmly broached.</p> - -<p>To Lige Benner and his inner circle of helpers, a -man’s good name or even his life weighed little against -an overmastering desire for vengeance.</p> - -<p>“Come with me, Gringo Pete,” said Red Steve. “I’ll -take ye down where ye can tork with the rest o’ the -White Caps. The’s six o’ us now, all told, countin’ you -an’ me. This way!”</p> - -<p>Steve exchanged a reassuring look with Lige Benner, -then led Wild Bill out of the house and down toward -the grove where the Laramie man’s horse had been -taken.</p> - -<p>“Jerry, you scheming imp,” cried Lige Benner, whirling -on his brother, “what’s all this you’ve been up to?”</p> - -<p>The hunchback was devoid of feeling. His crippled -body matched his crippled nature, making him abnormal, -fiendish in his schemes and fiendish in having them -carried out. His murderous disposition had turned a -fresh page—a page which even his brother Lige had -never suspected before.</p> - -<p>“I’m planning for you, Lige,” cackled Jerry, “what -you’ve never had the nerve to plan for yourself—much -less to attempt to execute.”</p> - -<p>“Be hanged to you! You’re going too far with your -staking and your stampeding! Look out, or you’ll bring -the whole cattle country down on me—say nothing of -Buffalo Bill’s pards.”</p> - -<p>“How’ll they come down on you, Lige?” purred the -hunchback. “I’ve done all this White Cap planning, -haven’t I? This is the first you’ve heard of it, Lige, -ain’t it?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[144]</span></p> - -<p>“I’m mixed up in it, just the same, you foxy, cold-blooded -whelp. Tell me what you’ve done.”</p> - -<p>“I had Steve organize a gang of White Caps, Lige,” -explained Jerry. “There are six in the gang now, and -that’s a-plenty, I reckon. They wear white caps to disguise -themselves. When this trouble happens to Dunbar, -word will be sent to the ranch. Perry will go to Hackamore -to help Dunbar, and Buffalo Bill, of course, will -go with him. Both will be caught by the White Caps and -staked out. Then the steers will be stampeded——”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner was walking the floor again. He had -not the nerve to let his brother’s diabolical plot be carried -out.</p> - -<p>“I’ll not stand for it, Jerry!” he cried. “Working -that trick with Dunbar is clever, and all right; but this -other thing I won’t stand for. It would never succeed.”</p> - -<p>Jerry ruffled up his humped back and spit at Lige -like an angry cat.</p> - -<p>“I’ve started out to do the job, Lige,” he screeched, -“and I’ll do it!”</p> - -<p>“You’ll not stake Cody out and run a herd of stampeded -steers over him,” declared Lige Benner, tossing -his hands, “and that’s flat. I’ll get my revenge on Cody -some other way.”</p> - -<p>Jerry’s anger died down suddenly, but a treacherous -sparkle smoldered in his eyes.</p> - -<p>“All right, Lige, all right,” said he. “I’ve got to ride -to Hackamore to carry out my part of the scheme against -Dunbar.”</p> - -<p>“Your part? What’s your part?”</p> - -<p>The jibbering laugh came from the wizened, expressionless -face of the hunchback.</p> - -<p>“How are those paste diamonds to be found in Dunbar’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[145]</span> -saddlebags, Lige,” he asked, “if I don’t put ’em -there? That’s my work. I didn’t want to ride into -Hackamore with Abraham Isaacs because people might -think of it later, and suspect something. But I can go -into town now, and——”</p> - -<p>The words died on the hunchback’s lips. He was looking -at the seemingly blank wall—staring hard.</p> - -<p>“What ails you, Jerry?” queried Lige.</p> - -<p>Without speaking, Jerry shambled to the wall and -swept one clawlike hand over it; then he looked at the -hand and turned on Lige with eyes that gleamed like -coals.</p> - -<p>“Look, Lige!” he whispered hoarsely.</p> - -<p>He held up his hand. Lige Benner saw that it had -been blackened with something from the wall.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” went on Lige curiously.</p> - -<p>“Soot! Soot and ashes, Lige. Here’s where Gringo -Pete Billings was leaning while Red Steve was talking -to him. Gringo Pete couldn’t have picked up soot and -ashes on his clothes between the Star-A ranch and -here.”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner had not the wit necessary to follow -these deductions back to their cause, but he knew that -some discovery of importance had been made by Jerry.</p> - -<p>The hunchback whirled around, without waiting for -further talk, and rushed into the rear room. He saw -the chair where Wild Bill had been sitting when summoned -into the living room to talk with Red Steve. The -chair also had traces of soot and ashes on its seat and -back.</p> - -<p>Like a hound on the scent, Jerry glided to the fireplace, -staring into it and upward with sharp, glimmering eyes. -The next moment the hunchback got into the fireplace.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[146]</span></p> - -<p>“Go into the next room and talk, Lige,” he called out; -“talk out loud, Lige, just like you were talking with -Isaacs.”</p> - -<p>Gradually Lige Benner’s mind was leading him to the -truth. As his brother proceeded with his investigations, -the trend of the hunchback’s suspicions was made so -manifest that Lige could not escape understanding them.</p> - -<p>In the living room Lige spoke two or three sentences -in the easy, conversational tone used with Isaacs. Jerry -rushed in on him suddenly, his eyes blazing.</p> - -<p>“Gringo Pete is a spy!” he snarled, dancing around -his brother in grotesque wrath and excitement; “he’s a -spy, I tell you, Lige! He came here to find out something, -and he crawled into the fireplace and overheard all -that passed between us and Isaacs!”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner’s wrath was rising in a way that matched -Jerry’s.</p> - -<p>“What’s Gringo Pete’s object?” he asked, trying to -keep his head clear and get at all the angles of the -situation.</p> - -<p>“His object, Lige, was to find out what we’re going to -do,” declared Jerry.</p> - -<p>“Of course; but why?”</p> - -<p>“Why? Oh, use your brains, Lige, if you’ve got any!”</p> - -<p>“He hates Buffalo Bill as much as I do. Even if he -did find out anything——”</p> - -<p>“Idiot! Don’t be a fool! Lige, can’t you see that -Gringo Pete’s yarn may have been faked up? Why, -Lige, that tramp of the plains may have been sent here -by the scout himself—sent here to keep track of what -we’re doing! And look what he’s found out, Lige! He’s -learned all about the game we’re planning to play on -Dunbar, and Red Steve’s giving him the facts about that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[147]</span> -other scheme the White Caps are mixed up in! If -Gringo Pete gets away from us, we lose out. Can’t you -see that, Lige?”</p> - -<p>The wrath and apprehension of the hunchback was -something terrible to witness. He hopped around the -room like a huge toad, talking to himself and throwing -his long arms all around him.</p> - -<p>Suddenly Lige grabbed his brother and shook him.</p> - -<p>“Pass up that foolishness, Jerry!” he ordered. “If -Gringo Pete is a spy, we’ll capture him and keep him -right here. The game at Hackamore will go on. I’m -willing to bet against long odds that the game wins out. -Get ready to go to Hackamore. I’ll see that Gringo -Pete is taken care of.”</p> - -<p>“Go on, Lige, go on!” breathed the hunchback, waving -a skinny hand toward the door. “Hurry, Lige, -hurry—or you’ll be too late.”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner ran out of the house and down the slope -toward the small grove at the edge of the river. From -the open door the hunchback watched him.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[148]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.<br /> -<span class="fs70">A “FLASH IN THE PAN.”</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Wild Bill Hickok was due for a “flash in the pan”—something -very unusual with him.</p> - -<p>As he followed Red Steve down the hill, the Laramie -man was congratulating himself on the fact that he was -to meet the other White Caps in the same grove where -his horse had been secured and the riding gear left. He -was casting about in his mind for some excuse that -would enable him to get the trappings on Beeswax and -fare away, all without exciting the suspicions of Red -Steve and the other four men in his detachment.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill was also thinking that he would like to learn -more of the plot against Buffalo Bill and Perry, but he -did not want to delay his departure too long and so run -the risk of not being able to get away at all.</p> - -<p>“That thar Jerry feller is as savage as a Feejee,” said -Wild Bill to Red Steve, when they were close to the -grove.</p> - -<p>“He’s ther brains o’ this hyer ranch when thar’s any -schemin’ goin’ on,” returned Red Steve. “It was him as -hatched up this hyer plot about the stakes an’ the stampede. -That’s purty vi’lent, but when ye’re dealin’ with -fellers like Buffler Bill an’ Perry, no halfway measures -ain’t a-goin’ ter pass muster.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon that’s so! Whar is this hyer Crowder’s -corral?”</p> - -<p>“Between this ranch an’ the Star-A. Thar’s them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[149]</span> -boys o’ mine,” Red Steve added, pointing. “They’re -sizin’ up that ’ar hoss o’ yourn.”</p> - -<p>The two men entered the grove and came front to -front with four men whose faces were as villainous as -that of Red Steve. They were looking Beeswax over -with critical eyes.</p> - -<p>The horse was picketed, and the saddle, bridle and -blanket were hanging from the limb of a nearby tree.</p> - -<p>“Purty good hoss, that,” remarked Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>Four pairs of eyes turned on him suspiciously.</p> - -<p>“Who the blazes aire you?” asked one of the quartette.</p> - -<p>“He’s got a clean bill, pards,” spoke up Red Steve. “I -know his looks is ag’in him, but he’s all right in spite o’ -his looks. He suits Jerry an’ Lige, so he’s got ter suit -us. He’s ter be one o’ the White Caps. Gringo Pete, -that feller’s Shorty Dobbs; the one behind him is Ace -Hawkins; the one back o’ Ace is Splinters Gibson; an’ -t’other ’un is Weasel Skinner. We all got ter be friends, -fellers. Don’t act measly to’rds yer new pard.”</p> - -<p>The four ruffians tried hard to show their friendship.</p> - -<p>“Ye got er blame’ good hoss,” remarked Shorty Dobbs, -with an up-and-down look over Wild Bill and a more or -less admiring glance in the direction of Beeswax.</p> - -<p>“He’s second ter but one hoss on the Brazos,” declared -Wild Bill proudly, “an’ that one hoss is Buffler -Bill’s Bear Paw.”</p> - -<p>“I know this hoss,” said Weasel Skinner. “The last -time I seed this hoss, Wild Bill Hickok was a-ridin’ -him.”</p> - -<p>The Laramie man chuckled.</p> - -<p>“The hoss belonged ter Wild Bill afore I took him,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[150]</span> -said he. “That ole Laramie fossil won’t never see Beeswax -no more. The animile is mine, now.”</p> - -<p>“Hickok’ll git his hoss back if he has ter take yer -h’ar ter do it,” asserted Splinters Gibson.</p> - -<p>“No feller o’ Hickok’s size’ll ever git my skelp,” -bragged Wild Bill, taking a tremendous pleasure in this -turn of the talk. “I kin show Hickok the way I wear -my back h’ar any day ye kin find in the almanac.”</p> - -<p>“Ye got gas enough fer a b’loon ascension,” grunted -Ace Hawkins, “an’ mebby that’s all thar is to ye.”</p> - -<p>“Mebby,” agreed Wild Bill, “an’ mebby ye ain’t got -as much sense as what the law allows.”</p> - -<p>“I got sand if I ain’t got sense,” flared Ace Hawkins, -“an’ if ye say the word, I’ll knock yer spine up through -the top o’ yer head till it sticks out like a flagpole. -I——”</p> - -<p>“Hush!” cried Red Steve. “Consarn it, kain’t ye ack -like gents an’ pards? Don’t ye try h’istin’ any flagpoles -like that, Ace, er ye’ll hear from me right quick. This -here’s our new pard, an’ here ye go treatin’ him like a -hired man. Us fellers has got ter all hang tergether.”</p> - -<p>“Er we’ll hang another way if we don’t,” spoke up -Shorty Dobbs with a shake of his bullet-like head.</p> - -<p>Out of the tails of his eyes, Wild Bill had caught a -look at the top of the hill through the trees. He saw -Lige Benner running through the door of the adobe -house, and Jerry Benner standing in the doorway and -watching him.</p> - -<p>Something was wrong. Wild Bill didn’t know what it -was but thought he’d take time by the forelock and get -clear.</p> - -<p>“That Beeswax hoss is shore the slickest animile fer -tricks ye ever seen,” said Wild Bill.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[151]</span></p> - -<p>He was in a hurry, but it would never have done to -let Red Steve and his men see it.</p> - -<p>“What tricks kin he do?” asked Splinters Gibson.</p> - -<p>“Waal, he kin lay down an’ roll over with me on his -back,” averred the Laramie man gravely, “an’ without -never hurtin’ me none.”</p> - -<p>“I got money as says he kain’t,” growled Ace Hawkins.</p> - -<p>“I don’t want yer money,” said Wild Bill, “but I’ll -show ye.”</p> - -<p>He pulled up the picket pin—there was no time to get -saddle and bridle on Beeswax—and made a hackamore of -the picket rope.</p> - -<p>“Stop that man!” came a voice from near the foot of -the hill.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill understood the words, and they certified -to Lige Benner’s hostile intentions toward him. But -the shouted order was not so clearly understood by -Red Steve and his men.</p> - -<p>“Who was that a-yellin’?” demanded Red Steve.</p> - -<p>“Sounded like Lige’s voice,” answered Shorty Dobbs.</p> - -<p>“Now, ye watch!” bellowed Wild Bill, at the top of -his voice, hoping to drown out any more noise Lige Benner -might make.</p> - -<p>As he spoke, he jumped to the back of the horse. If -he could get away with the hackamore, and minus his -riding gear, Wild Bill was going to be entirely satisfied. -Kicking his heels into Beeswax’s ribs, he started through -the timber in the direction of the trail to the Star-A.</p> - -<p>“Hyer!” roared the voice of Shorty Dobbs; “make ’im -lay down an’ roll over!”</p> - -<p>“Got ter git ter clear ground afore I kin do that,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[152]</span> -shouted Wild Bill, turning in his saddle. “Trail erlong, -amigos!”</p> - -<p>Red Steve and his four White Caps might have started -after Wild Bill, still in the hope that he would make -Beeswax “lie down and roll over” had not Lige Benner, -at that moment, come tearing in among them.</p> - -<p>“He’s a spy!” bawled Benner; “Gringo Pete is a spy! -He’s trying to get away!”</p> - -<p>The last word died in a fusillade of revolvers. Red -Steve, his four men and Lige Benner had each drawn -a six-shooter and sent their leaden respects after Wild -Bill.</p> - -<p>The Laramie man felt that he was safe. What horse -was there at the Circle-B that could overhaul old Beeswax?</p> - -<p>In that supreme moment, gloating over what he had -accomplished, the Laramie man must needs turn, shake -his fist and taunt those behind on their poor marksmanship.</p> - -<p>“Yah! You men couldn’t hit the side of a barn! -By-by!”</p> - -<p>While Wild Bill was looking behind, something mighty -important was happening in front. As he turned around -to keep Beeswax in the right course, the Laramie man -was made unpleasantly aware of the change in the situation.</p> - -<p>Four of the Circle-B cowboys were riding in from the -range. These four were directly in front of Wild Bill, -and not more than twenty feet distant. They had heard -Wild Bill’s shout, and their attention had already been -attracted by the discharge of revolvers. When the -whoops and yells of Lige Benner, Red Steve and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[153]</span> -rest reached their ears, they spread out and prepared -to blockade the racing fugitive.</p> - -<p>“Keep clear!” shouted Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>He made a fierce attempt to get at his revolvers. They -were under his ragged disguise, and he had been under -the impression that they were placed where they could -be conveniently drawn.</p> - -<p>But in this he was mistaken. Some part of his costume -got between his itching fingers and the hand -grips of his guns.</p> - -<p>In a flash he realized that his weapons were not to -serve him. He had the coil of rope and the picket -pin in front of him, and he grabbed up the pin and -hurled it with all his force.</p> - -<p>One of the blockading cowboys was ready to fire his -revolver. Before the trigger could be pulled, the sharp -point of the pin had struck his arm. He gave a yell of -rage and pain, and his weapon dropped from his nerveless -fingers.</p> - -<p>“Stop!” cried another of the cowpunchers; “stop or -I’ll bore ye!”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill leaned far from his horse’s back and struck -out with his fist.</p> - -<p>The cowboy who had voiced the threat, slewed backward -in his saddle, so wrapped up in his own pressing -complaints that he had no time to give further attention -to the Laramie man.</p> - -<p>Once more Wild Bill was beginning to congratulate -himself. Two of the four cowboys were out of the running; -if he could dodge the other two, the trail to the -Star-A would be clear before him.</p> - -<p>But right here the picket rope and pin, which had -served Wild Bill so well, now proved his undoing.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[154]</span></p> - -<p>The rope, weighted by the pin, was cutting all sorts of -capers around Beeswax’s flying heels. As hard luck -would have it, chance threw the rope into a loop, and -the loop caught the horse’s front feet.</p> - -<p>Down went Beeswax—and he really did roll over. But -Wild Bill was not on the horse’s back. The Laramie -man had been hurled a dozen feet onward.</p> - -<p>When he dropped, he came down all of a heap; and -before he could collect his scattered wits, two cowboys -were on him, and Lige Benner, Red Steve, and many -more were rushing at top speed for the scene to lend -their assistance.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill was caught!</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[155]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.<br /> -<span class="fs70">HELD BY THE ENEMY.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Wild Bill was a terribly surprised man. He didn’t -mind the jolt of his fall, nor the roughness with which -the cattlemen treated him, but the blow to his confidence -was a hard thing for him to get over.</p> - -<p>He fought as long as he could, and only ceased his -struggles when ropes made it impossible for him to -move.</p> - -<p>The set-to had disarranged his entire make-up, and had -even caused him to lose a portion of it. Under the -ragged garments he wore his usual costume, and the -amazement of Lige Benner was great when he discovered -that his prisoner was no less a person than Wild -Bill himself.</p> - -<p>“You came here in disguise to spy on me, did you, -Wild Bill?” scowled Lige Benner, looking down on -his captive and wondering what he should do with him.</p> - -<p>“I came here to find out what I could about your -criminal doings,” answered Wild Bill, “and it’s dollars -to chalk marks that I’ve seen and heard enough to put -a rope around your neck. A nice sort of respectable cattle -baron you are!”</p> - -<p>“He’s too blame’ mouthy!” growled Red Steve. “The -thing ter do with him is ter put him whar he kain’t -bother us.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do that,” returned Benner.</p> - -<p>“How’s my horse?” asked the Laramie man.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[156]</span></p> - -<p>“Nothin’ wrong with the caballo,” said one of the -cowboys.</p> - -<p>“Take good care of him. I told you, Hawkins,” Wild -Bill went on to the White Cap, “that Beeswax could lay -down and roll over with me.”</p> - -<p>“He done it, all right,” returned Hawkins, with a -sputter of profanity. “But I reckon it was a put-up -job, an’ that ye didn’t calculate ter have it that-a-way.” -He turned to Lige Benner and Red Steve. “Say, you -fellers goin’ ter let Wild Bill keep his hair arter the -way he’s fooled us? Why, he knows enough ter make -us all a mighty sick lot, I can tell ye.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take care of Wild Bill,” said Benner shortly. -“Carry him up to the cabin.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill was lifted by four men and toted up the -hill to the adobe house. He saw Jerry on a horse in -front of the cabin as he was carried toward the door.</p> - -<p>“You kept him from getting away, eh, Lige?” chirruped -the hunchback. “That’s good, mighty good! Keep -a tight hold on him, Lige. When I get back, some time -to-night, I want to see that fellow here.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll see him here, Jerry, and don’t you forget that,” -answered Benner.</p> - -<p>Jerry, with a look of malicious triumph at Wild Bill, -whirled his horse and started toward the trail for Hackamore. -The prisoner was carried on through the living -room of the house and dropped on the bed in the rear -chamber. Benner drove everybody out but Red Steve, -then drew up a chair to the head of the bed and sat -down.</p> - -<p>“Why did you do this, Hickok?” he asked, with a -black scowl.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[157]</span></p> - -<p>“You know why I did it,” was the reply. “What’s the -use of threshing that all over again?”</p> - -<p>“You’ve put me in a hard position.”</p> - -<p>“Not half so hard as you’ll be in later, Benner. You -can wipe me off the slate, if you want to, but that’s not -going to help your case any. Buffalo Bill knows I came -here, and if I don’t get back to the Star-A ranch he’ll -know what’s happened to me. You’re going to get -scratched, Benner, no matter which way the cat jumps.”</p> - -<p>Benner’s face was a study.</p> - -<p>“How much did you find out?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“A heap more than I expected to,” was Wild Bill’s -answer.</p> - -<p>“He’s buffaloed us oncet, Lige,” said Red Steve, “an’ -don’t let him do it ag’in. His light kin be snuffed so’st -nobody’ll ever know who done it. I’ll take the job.”</p> - -<p>“Not yet awhile,” returned Benner. “See that he’s -bound so he can’t slip the ropes, Steve, and then put your -men on guard around the house.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll stay right in this hyer room with him, if ye -want,” offered Red Steve.</p> - -<p>“That’s not what I want. You can stay at the door -of the living room, and you can put one or two men at -the outside window, but Wild Bill stays in here alone.”</p> - -<p>It was evident that Lige Benner hesitated to trust Red -Steve alone with the prisoner. The fiery-haired Texan -would perhaps have taken matters into his own hands, -in spite of Benner’s orders.</p> - -<p>“Ye needn’t be afeared I’d sponge him out, Lige,” -leered Red Steve, catching the drift of arrangements.</p> - -<p>“If you tried that,” said Benner, “you’d get sponged -out yourself. I’m going to have the country watched, -all around the ranch. If Buffalo Bill, or any of his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[158]</span> -pards, come here looking for Hickok, we’ll have them -before we know what they’re doing.”</p> - -<p>“Purvidin’ they’re reckernized,” qualified Red Steve. -“I hadn’t a notion Gringo Pete was Wild Bill—an’ I -looked Gringo Pete over mighty close, too. Say, he’s -some on playin’ a part, Wild Bill is.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a very accomplished man, Wild Bill,” said -Benner, with some sarcasm, “but this time your accomplishments -have loaded you up with more trouble than -you can handle.”</p> - -<p>“It looks that way, for a fact,” returned the Laramie -man cheerfully. “Would you mind telling me, Benner, -how you happened to learn I wasn’t what I seemed?”</p> - -<p>“Jerry got next to that. Jerry can get next to anything -in the lame-duck line.”</p> - -<p>“Which indicates that Jerry also has his accomplishments,” -grinned Wild Bill. “But how did he turn the -trick against me?”</p> - -<p>Benner explained that point in a few words. Wild -Bill cast a rueful look in the direction of the fireplace.</p> - -<p>“If I hadn’t been a little shy on reasoning myself,” he -muttered, “this wouldn’t have happened, and I’d now -be on the way to the Star-A. Nobody but myself to -blame. Go ahead and do your worst, Benner. After -that, you take my advice and get out from under.”</p> - -<p>Benner whirled on his heel, beckoned Red Steve to -follow, and the two men passed out of the room. The -door was closed and the bolt shoved into place.</p> - -<p>“Same thing I heard a while ago,” reflected Wild -Bill, “only the case is different. I’ve been more kinds -of a chucklehead this trip than I know how to mention. -Oh, I’m proud of myself! And Pard Cody will be just -as proud when he finds out about it. Here I am, loaded<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[159]</span> -to the guards with information that means liberty and -good name for Dunbar, and perhaps life itself for Perry, -and not able to do a thing to tell what I know. Pleasant -situation! Mighty pleasant—if you don’t care what you -say.”</p> - -<p>The Laramie man was greatly cast down, but he never -allowed chagrin or dejection to cut very deep into his -optimistic nature. He was caught hard and fast in the -clutch of circumstances; yet it was better to face the -gloomy situation with some show of grace, than to -deaden his resources by giving way to despair.</p> - -<p>But Wild Bill was sorry for Dunbar and Perry—sorrier -for them than he was for himself.</p> - -<p>The afternoon passed. Wild Bill, his limbs cramped -and numb from the ropes, twisted around on the bed -and fretted for some one to talk to.</p> - -<p>He beguiled some of the time by working at his bonds. -They were knotted firmly, but he tried sawing the -hempen strands in two by working the rope up and -down on the side board of the bed.</p> - -<p>These tactics might have won out if he had had two -or three days to keep at them, but a few hours grinding -would accomplish little.</p> - -<p>When the shadows of evening began to settle down, -the bolt was pushed back, the door opened, and Benner -and Red Steve came in again, the latter bringing the -prisoner’s supper.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill’s hands were not unbound. Red Steve -propped him up on the bed and fed him.</p> - -<p>“Have you made up your mind what you’re going to -do with me?” inquired the prisoner, when the meal was -finished.</p> - -<p>Lige Benner stood gloomily by with folded arms.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[160]</span></p> - -<p>“You’ll be kept here to-night,” said he. “In the morning -we’ll know how your account is to be settled.”</p> - -<p>Red Steve looked at the ropes, reported that the prisoner -had been tampering with them, and tied them in -such a way that the sawing on the side board of the bed -could not be continued.</p> - -<p>“You’ll not be able to get away from here, Hickok,” -said Benner. “Even if you got rid of your ropes, you -couldn’t get out; and if you got out, you’d be dropped -in your tracks by a bullet before you’d gone a dozen -yards. You’ll have to make the most of it. You’ve -forced my hand and will have to take the consequences.”</p> - -<p>“All right,” answered Wild Bill amiably. “But wait -till this trail’s run out before you do any talking. I’ve -got pards that won’t care a whoop for you and your -Circle-B outfit when they learn what’s happened to me.”</p> - -<p>Red Steve picked up the empty dishes, and he and -Benner again left the room.</p> - -<p>From then on, while the night steadily deepened, Wild -Bill allowed certain possible events to pass in review. -Already, no doubt, Jerry Benner had worked his plot -against Dunbar. Word of Dunbar’s predicament had -gone to the Star-A ranch, and the scout had started at -once for Hackamore with Perry. On the way to the -town, the White Caps would lay for Buffalo Bill and -Perry.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill chuckled as his mind took up that phase of -the question.</p> - -<p>“I’d like to be around and see what Pard Cody does -to those White Caps,” he muttered.</p> - -<p>The hours passed while he reflected. Stygian darkness -settled down on the bedroom, only a lightish blur marking -the window opening. Wild Bill could hear Red<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[161]</span> -Steve moving around in the living room, and he could -hear some one outside the window; but he heard something -else—something that caused him to give over his -reflections and centre his attentions on the peculiar noise. -The sound was like a muffled scraping, and it was coming -steadily nearer. Wild Bill tried to locate it, but the -darkness confused him and he could not.</p> - -<p>At last he heard deep breathing, stifled to the merest -rasping whisper, accompanying muffled footfalls. A -form, barely distinguishable, reached the bed. Wild Bill -was about to speak, when a hand dropped over his lips.</p> - -<p>“Cork!” whispered a husky voice. “I’m Ace Hawkins, -an’ if ye breathe a word out loud, things’ll go hard -fer the two o’ us. We’ll palaver a spell.”</p> - -<p>For a moment the Laramie man was dazed. Ace -Hawkins, one of Red Steve’s White Caps, there in the -room with him! And he had come in stealthily! Why?</p> - -<p>Quick as lightning, Wild Bill’s brain solved the problem -in what he conceived the most logical way.</p> - -<p>The White Caps were taking the fate of the prisoner -in their own hands. Benner was not desperate enough -to suit them. They would put the prisoner out of the -way without letting Benner know anything about the -proceeding until it was too late for him to interfere.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill tried to sink his teeth into the hand that -smothered his lips.</p> - -<p>“Quit that, you!” hissed Hawkins. “What fer kind -of way is that ter act? Ain’t I come here ter help ye, -runnin’ all kinds o’ risks? Red Steve is at the door -of the other room, an’ Shorty Dobbs an’ Splinters Gibson -is outside the winder. I was around the side o’ the -house, an’ took my life in my hands, by climbin’ to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[162]</span> -roof an’ comin’ down the chimbly. I’d be skelped good -an’ proper if Red Steve knowed whar I was.”</p> - -<p>Was Wild Bill dreaming all this? Ace Hawkins, who -had seemed to be the most savage of the White Caps, -was sneaking around and running the risk of life itself -in order to do him a good turn. Naturally, the Laramie -man couldn’t believe it.</p> - -<p>“That’s a good yarn, Hawkins,” murmured Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“It’s straight,” protested Hawkins.</p> - -<p>“I don’t believe such a crooked coyote as you are -could talk straight if he tried.”</p> - -<p>“Then ye got an eye-opener comin’ ter you. Ye come -hyer, didn’t ye, bekase the sky pilot sent a warnin’ from -Hackamore?”</p> - -<p>“That’s a bull’s-eye hit, anyhow.”</p> - -<p>“Did ye hyer how the sky pilot got tipped off ter the -trouble a-brewin’ at the Circle-B?”</p> - -<p>“I heard that a friend of his, from the Circle-B outfit, -gave him the news.”</p> - -<p>“Which is kerrect. I’m thet thar friend.”</p> - -<p>“You? One of Red Steve’s White Caps! Say, Hawkins, -you’re piling it on pretty thick.”</p> - -<p>“I ain’t so tough as what ye reckon, Wild Bill. Jordan, -the sky pilot, has showed me the error o’ my ways, -he has, an’ I’m tryin’ ter be white. I useter be bad -enough, but I’m differ’nt now.”</p> - -<p>“How are you different? Haven’t you tangled up -with Red Steve’s White Caps? Is that the way you’re -trying to be ‘white?’ Don’t take any more falls out of -the truth, Hawkins. If you’re here to do me up, go -ahead.”</p> - -<p>A muffled exclamation broke from Hawkins’ lips.</p> - -<p>“I j’ined the White Caps so’st I could keep track of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[163]</span> -’em an’ of Red Steve,” he averred. “I wanted ter git a -chanst ter back-cap ’em, same as what I’m doin’ now. -I’m ready ter prove it, Wild Bill. Wait!”</p> - -<p>Again Hawkins bent over Wild Bill. The prisoner -felt the cowboy’s groping hands at his wrists, and then -cold, sharp steel bit at the hempen strands.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, his wonder growing, pulled his arms in front -of him. While he was rubbing his hands to restore circulation, -Hawkins was using the knife at his ankles.</p> - -<p>“Now,” whispered Hawkins, “ye’re free. Does that -prove anythin’? Am I straight goods, er ain’t I?”</p> - -<p>“You seem to be all right,” returned Wild Bill, sitting -up on the edge of the bed, “but this may all be a play to -help Red Steve get the best of me.”</p> - -<p>“Hyer!”</p> - -<p>Hawkins pressed something into Wild Bill’s hands. -They were a couple of six-shooters.</p> - -<p>“Them’s yourn,” went on Hawkins. “Red Steve give -’em ter me ter take keer of, when ye was landed on at -the foot o’ the hill. Yer hoss is in the grove whar he -was left that other time. I’ve got the saddle an’ bridle -on him. All ye got ter do, Wild Bill, is ter crawl up -the chimbly, git ter the ground same as I come up, go -down the hill an’ git inter the saddle. I’ll go with ye, -an’ we’ll talk further. Yore move is ter git back ter the -Star-A an’ tell Buffler Bill what ye know. Ye ort ter -hev made that move afore, but thar wasn’t no way I -could help pull it off till now.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill had been pleasantly disappointed. He had -thought Hawkins was a foe, and here he was turning -out to be a friend. The Laramie man reached out gropingly -in the dark.</p> - -<p>“Where’s your fist, Hawkins?” he murmured.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[164]</span></p> - -<p>“Hyer.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill shook the hand.</p> - -<p>“You’re a whole man, Hawkins,” went on Wild Bill. -“I’d never have believed this of you if I hadn’t gone -through it personally.”</p> - -<p>“Ye needn’t thank me,” said Hawkins deprecatingly. -“Thank the sky pilot. If it hadn’t been fer him, I’d be -here clamorin’ fer yer skelp. The sky pilot advised me -ter hang on with Steve an’ Benner, playin’ a double part -an’ watchin’ my chance ter do a good turn fer right an’ -jestice. But we kain’t stand hyer palaverin’. It ain’t -safe. Any minit Red Steve may come in, an’ the fat -’u’d be in the fire. Ye’ve been in that chimbly oncet, -an’ hyer’s whar ye foller me up ag’in. Come on, an’ -come quiet.”</p> - -<p>Hawkins guided Wild Bill across the room to the fireplace; -then, getting inside, the two men mounted up and -up, planting their feet on the projecting stones and wedging -themselves in the flue with their arms and elbows.</p> - -<p>Great care had to be exercised in order not to alarm -Red Steve. The Laramie man had not forgotten that -the two flues constituted a whispering gallery, and that -unusual noises in the chimney would reach the ears of -any one in the living room.</p> - -<p>But Red Steve may have been half dozing. At any -rate, he heard nothing and was not aroused.</p> - -<p>Hawkins was first to climb over the top of the big -chimney. As Wild Bill followed him, they could hear -Shorty Dobbs and Splinters Gibson talking below, near -the window at the end of the adobe house.</p> - -<p>“So fur, so good,” whispered Hawkins, “but we ain’t -out o’ the woods yit. We’ll have ter hang ter the aidge -o’ the roof an’ drap. I’ll drap fust, then you foller.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[165]</span></p> - -<p>Like a shadow, Hawkins lowered himself from the -roof’s edge and let go. A slight thump came back to -Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>It was not a long drop—the house was only a one-story -affair—but there was a chance to sprain an ankle, -for all that.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill slipped carefully from the edge of the roof, -hung a moment, and then loosened his fingers. His foot -struck on a stone, and he fell with quite a scramble. -There was a stir around the corner, and a dark form -showed itself.</p> - -<p>Hawkins pressed Wild Bill down on the ground with -a quick hand.</p> - -<p>“What ther nation is goin’ on, Ace?” called a voice.</p> - -<p>“Nawthin’,” answered Hawkins. “I jest fell asleep -standin’ up, an’ tumbled over.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, keep yer eyes open. Splinters says we’re goin’ -ter ride ter the Star-A purty soon.”</p> - -<p>The form disappeared, and Ace Hawkins drew a long -breath of relief.</p> - -<p>“Now fer down hill,” he murmured, “an’ the quicker -we skin out, the better.”</p> - -<p>With Hawkins leading, the two moved noiselessly -down the slope, in the direction of the river and the little -grove of trees.</p> - -<p>“Hyer we aire, all serene,” said Hawkins, “an’ yore -hoss is right ferninst ye, Wild Bill.”</p> - -<p>“I can see him,” answered the Laramie man. “I’ll -not be bagged again, Hawkins.”</p> - -<p>“Lige Benner has got watchers out, all around the -camp. Ye’ll hev ter git clear without causin’ any ruction, -if possible, an’ I’d suggest that ye ride in the water, -a little off the bank. The Brazos ain’t bein’ watched<span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[166]</span> -so much as the trails. Mebby ye’ll git away without -trouble. I’m hopin’ so, anyways.”</p> - -<p>“What’re you goin’ to do, Hawkins?”</p> - -<p>“I’m stayin’ with the White Caps. That’s what the -sky pilot said fer me ter do.”</p> - -<p>“But when they find out that I’ve got away, more -than likely you’ll be suspected.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t reckon so.”</p> - -<p>“Your safest move is to come with me.”</p> - -<p>“I’m goin’ ter stay on, with the White Caps an’ try -ter pervent them kerryin’ out any deviltry. Thar’s a lot -o’ it on the programme, as I reckon ye know.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill passed to his horse, unhitched the animal and -got into the saddle.</p> - -<p>“Don’t let the brute lay down an’ roll over with ye,” -said Ace Hawkins humorously.</p> - -<p>“Nary, pard,” chuckled Wild Bill; “nor I won’t walk -lame or play dead for Benner and his gang any more. -But I’d sure like to do something to get even with you -for this night’s work.”</p> - -<p>“What I’m doin’ I’m doin’ on account o’ the sky pilot. -He’s a friend o’ Perry’s.”</p> - -<p>“All right, Hawkins, let it go at that. Has that hunchback -returned from Hackamore yet?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon not.”</p> - -<p>“You think the White Caps are going to make a move -against Perry and Buffalo Bill?”</p> - -<p>“They’ll move ag’in Perry. Prob’ly some un has come -in with news, an’ that’s why the White Caps aire gittin’ -ready ter move. What the news is I don’t know. But -you hustle ter tell Buffler Bill what ye know. Thar’s -been sich a delay gittin’ you loose that the scout’ll have -to make his play ag’in long odds; but, like as not, a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[167]</span> -quick move fer Perry an’ Dunbar’ll put ’em right. If I -kin——”</p> - -<p>At that moment a call for Hawkins came from up the -hill.</p> - -<p>“The White Caps is waitin’ fer me,” added Hawkins -hastily. “Ride the river fer a mile, then take ter the -trail. Adios!”</p> - -<p>With an answer to the call from above on his lips, -Ace Hawkins hurried out of the grove.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill waited for nothing further but spurred to -the river’s edge and into the water; then, turning Beeswax -in the direction of the Star-A he proceeded cautiously -to pass the guards posted by Benner.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[168]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE PLOT AT HACKAMORE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Nate Dunbar’s first inquiry, after he had put up his -horse in the Hackamore corral and dropped in at the -Delmonico Hotel, was for a jewelry peddler.</p> - -<p>“There was one here,” said the hotel clerk, “but one -o’ Benner’s men come in arter him an’ he’s gone ter -the Circle-B. He’ll be back, I reckon, as soon’s he unloads -some o’ his stuff on Lige Benner.”</p> - -<p>It was after twelve o’clock, and Dunbar scoured the -dust from his face and hands and went into the dining -room for his dinner.</p> - -<p>The first thing he wanted to buy was a ring with a -genuine “spark” for Hattie. But he’d have to postpone -that and go hunting for cowboys and ranch supplies.</p> - -<p>At the general store where he got the goods for the -ranch he heard of two or three experienced men who -were out of a job. He found them in a saloon, and -hired two of the men on the spot. The third of the -trio was a fellow whose looks wouldn’t pass muster.</p> - -<p>The troubles of Perry and Dunbar were well known -all up and down the Brazos. A few days before, public -opinion had been solidly against them; but now, thanks -to the energy of Buffalo Bill and his pards, public opinion -had undergone a change.</p> - -<p>Everywhere he went Dunbar was greeted cordially.</p> - -<p>“Always knew you an’ Dick Perry would come out -on top,” ran the general theme of talk.</p> - -<p>Nate Dunbar smiled grimly. He knew that nearly<span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[169]</span> -every one in Hackamore was under the thumb of the -cattle barons, and that the spectacular work of the scout -and his pards, alone, had faced every cattle baron but -Lige Benner the other way around. It wasn’t for himself -that the people of Hackamore showed so much -sympathetic interest in him and Perry and their fortunes, -but because of the potent influence of the king of scouts -and his compadres.</p> - -<p>If was three o’clock in the afternoon when Dunbar -saw Abraham Isaacs riding into Hackamore. Instantly -the young rancher bethought himself of the diamond ring -which he had set his heart on buying for his wife.</p> - -<p>He was at the hotel as soon as the Jew got there.</p> - -<p>“Got any nice stones set in a ring, Uncle?” asked -Nate. “If you have, I reckon you and I can do business.”</p> - -<p>Isaacs peered at him from under his bushy brows.</p> - -<p>“Who you was, young chentleman?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Dunbar, of the Star-A ranch,” was the answer.</p> - -<p>A flicker ran through the Jew’s eyes, and he trembled -a little as he shifted his battered satchel from one hand -to the other.</p> - -<p>“Ach, mein friendt,” said he, “I haf got some of der -finest shtones in rings vat efer you see, yah, so. You got -der money to buy, I got der rings to sell. Vat you -like?”</p> - -<p>“Come off some place where we can be by ourselves,” -answered Nate. “I don’t like to buy finery with so many -folks lookin’ on.”</p> - -<p>The clerk offered them the use of a room, and they -were soon in chairs, looking over the peddler’s stock.</p> - -<p>“What I want,” said Dunbar, “is the real, gen-u-ine -thing in stones. This ring’s to be for Mrs. Dunbar, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[170]</span> -she hasn’t her equal among womenkind in all Texas. I -want something that’s up to the mark, or it don’t go; -and, what’s more, I haven’t a mint of money to squander, -either.”</p> - -<p>“Vat you like to pay?”</p> - -<p>The Jew was studying the handsome face of the young -man, studying it compassionately. If it wasn’t for the -gain to be had from Benner, Isaacs would never have -taken part in the contemptible plot hatched by Jerry. But -money was the Jew’s life blood. His compassion was -strong, but his love for money was stronger.</p> - -<p>“A hundred pesos is the extent of my pile,” said Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Act, Himmel! Vat you expect to get for a hundert -tollars? It vill be shmall, mein friendt. Tiamonts iss -vort’ mooch money. A hundert-toller bigness in a tiamont -iss shmall.”</p> - -<p>“Well, anyways, a hundred-dollar bigness is all I can -stand for,” returned Dunbar regretfully. “Next time you -come around, Isaacs, maybe I’ll be in better case so that -we can dicker for a watch. How much is this?”</p> - -<p>He picked up a ring and held it where the slanting rays -of the sun entered a window and struck a rainbow of -color from the single stone.</p> - -<p>“A hundert und feefty toller, Misder Dunbar,” replied -the Jew, “but I geave him to you for one hundert -toller. You look like a fine poy, und I haf got tender -feelings for fine poys. Ven you puy der vatch, den I -make it oop vat I lose on der ring. Hein?”</p> - -<p>“I’ve bought something, uncle. Put the ring in a -box and I’ll stow it away.”</p> - -<p>The ring was put in a case, and the money changed -hands. Dunbar, whistling blithely, left the room. Isaacs<span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[171]</span> -looked after him, shook his head forebodingly, and -began replacing his jewelry in the satchel.</p> - -<p>While he was about it, a tapping came on the window -of the room. He looked up and saw Jerry Benner peering -in at him through the glass. A shiver ran through -the humped form of Isaacs. Here was where the plot -was to begin!</p> - -<p>Jerry motioned with his hand that Isaacs was to lift -the window sash. The Jew obeyed, and the crooked -form of the hunchback floundered into the room.</p> - -<p>“He’s bought his ring, has he, Abe?” asked Jerry.</p> - -<p>“Yah, so,” murmured the Jew, “he has bought der -ring.”</p> - -<p>“Well, you get those paste stones in a hurry and -bring them to me. Hurry, Abe. He left his saddle and -saddlebags at the corral. It’s a good chance, Abe, for -me to do what I’m planning.”</p> - -<p>“Ach, Cherry,” said Isaacs, clutching his hands, “he -looks like a goot poy.”</p> - -<p>“Never you mind about that, Abe,” snapped Jerry. -“If you want to collect the rest of what’s coming from -Lige, get you those bogus stones. Hustle! Sim Pierce -is talking with Dunbar, and Dunbar may leave for home -before he intended. Hurry up, Abe.”</p> - -<p>With a stifled groan, the harassed Jew turned and left -the room, taking his precious satchel with him. He returned -in a few moments with the false stones, and the -designing Jerry got through the window with them and -moved in the direction of the corral.</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce was the first man Dunbar saw when he -stepped through the door of the hotel, the present for -Hattie in his pocket.</p> - -<p>“Hello, Nate!” called Sim. “I was out ter the Star-A<span class="pagenum" id="Page_172">[172]</span> -an’ had dinner. Buffler Bill told me you was in town. -Have ye seen the sky pilot yit?”</p> - -<p>“Is Jordan in town, Sim?” queried Nate, surprised.</p> - -<p>“He was some tired an’ out o’ sorts, an’ he allowed -he’d go ter bed fer a day. He’s at the Delmonico, but -I reckon he’s snoozin’, an’ makin’ up fer the sleep he -lost when he tied that knot on hossback.”</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce chuckled and nudged Dunbar in the ribs. -The cowboy grinned responsively.</p> - -<p>“Whyever did you make such a quick trip to the -ranch, Sim?” Nate asked.</p> - -<p>Sim drew Nate off toward the hitching pole in front -of the hotel, looked carefully around, and told the young -rancher what he had already told Buffalo Bill and Wild -Bill. Dunbar at once began to worry.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to let the rest of my work here in town -wait,” said he, “and I’m going back to the ranch. If -any trouble happens, I want to be there.”</p> - -<p>“I reckoned you’d feel that-er-way, Nate,” returned -Sim, “but afore ye go, I’d advise ye ter palaver with -Jordan. If he knowed ye was in town he’d be anxious -ter see ye.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar ran back into the hotel and inquired his way -to the sky pilot’s room. He was with Jordan no more -than fifteen minutes, and when he left him he hurriedly -settled his bill, saddled and bridled his horse and started -at speed for the Star-A.</p> - -<p>All this was circumstantial evidence against Nate. He -had told the clerk that he expected to remain in Hackamore -two days, but here he was leaving in haste before -he had been in town much more than four hours.</p> - -<p>Nate had hardly hit the trail before Abraham Isaacs<span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[173]</span> -began to stir up the whole hotel with the howling announcement -that he had been robbed.</p> - -<p>As ill luck would have it, Bloom, the sheriff, happened -to be in the hotel office at the time. He took Isaacs in -hand, questioned him, and the clerk cut into the talk to -tell about Dunbar’s hurried flight for the Brazos.</p> - -<p>“He’s the man!” declared Bloom, with a snap of his -lean jaws. “You, an’ you, an’ you,” he turned to indicate -three cowboys who were in the office, “will come -with me. You can’t refuse the law when you’re called -upon. We’re a ‘possey come-and-git-us,’ and we’ve got -to overhaul Dunbar and see if he’s got the stolen goods.”</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce, strolling toward the hotel from down the -street, saw the sheriff and the four cowboys hustling off -along the trail. He knew, from the way they rode, that -there was something up.</p> - -<p>In the office the clerk told him about the robbery of -Isaacs, and about Dunbar being suspected.</p> - -<p>“It ain’t so!” bellowed Sim Pierce. “That ’er boy is -as squar’ a piece o’ furniture as ever come out o’ the -fact’ry. I tell ye I won’t b’leeve it.”</p> - -<p>“You’re not the only one who won’t believe it, Sim,” -came a quiet voice behind Pierce, and he turned to meet -the indignant, boyish face of Jordan, the sky pilot. “We’ll -wait till Bloom and his posse get back, though, before -we express ourselves too strongly. I’ve a notion”—he -dropped his voice to a whisper—“that this may be a -part of Lige Benner’s plot. We’ll see, Sim, we’ll see.”</p> - -<p>It was two hours later that the “possey come-and-git-us” -loped back to town. They brought Nate Dunbar -with them, and Nate’s hands were in manacles.</p> - -<p>They had found the missing diamonds in his saddlebags. -Nate didn’t know how they had got there, but<span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[174]</span> -he did know that the first he saw of them was when the -sheriff pulled them out of the bags.</p> - -<p>Although burning with indignation, Jordan, the sky -pilot, kept in the background.</p> - -<p>“Sim,” said he to Pierce, “get a fresh horse and ride -for the Star-A ranch as fast as you can go. Don’t tell -Hattie anything about this, but tell Buffalo Bill and his -pards. I’ll do nothing here until I can have a talk with -the scout. He’s the one to handle this, and the only -one!”</p> - -<p>So, while Sim Pierce raced through the night, and -Jerry Benner rode slowly and exultantly in the direction -of the Circle-B ranch, Nate Dunbar sat helpless in the -shanty which served for the Hackamore jail. The young -rancher was so dazed by recent events that he could -not think.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[175]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">BUFFALO BILL’S SUMMONS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Sim Pierce had left the Star-A ranch, on the occasion -of his first visit, immediately after dinner. While Mrs. -Dunbar, happy as a lark, was clearing away the dishes -and singing about her work, the scout and Dick Perry -sat in front of the cabin.</p> - -<p>Perry was an educated man—altogether of too fine a -grain, the scout thought, to be “pioneering it” in the cattle -country.</p> - -<p>“Thanks to you and your pards, Buffalo Bill,” said -Perry, “the worst of the Star-A troubles are over. Hear -that girl singing away in the kitchen!” An affectionate -smile crept over Perry’s face as he listened. “Just to -be near happiness like hers, fills me with the joy of life -and living.”</p> - -<p>The scout nodded.</p> - -<p>“You have a whole lot to be glad about, Perry,” said -he.</p> - -<p>“If anybody continues to stir up trouble on the Brazos, -amigo, it will be the Benners.”</p> - -<p>“Is there more than one Benner, then?”</p> - -<p>“Haven’t you heard about Lige’s hunchback brother, -Jerry?”</p> - -<p>“Come to think of it, I believe I did hear something -about a hunchback.”</p> - -<p>“Jerry,” went on the rancher, “is a regular demon. He -hasn’t any more heart in him than a stone, and his wits -are as keen as a razor. Jerry is twice as sharp as Lige -and twice as savage.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[176]</span></p> - -<p>The scout laughed.</p> - -<p>“I thought Lige was savage enough,” he remarked, -“but if Jerry is any worse, I’d like to see him, just -out of curiosity.”</p> - -<p>“Jerry’s a schemer,” pursued Perry, “and I’ve heard -it said that Lige is half afraid of him.”</p> - -<p>“Lige is a good deal of a coward. Any man who favors -snake-in-the-grass methods in preference to a stand -in the open, is a coward—and a knave, as well.” The -scout got up from his chair. “I’m going over to the -hammock, Perry,” said he, “and take a siesta.”</p> - -<p>“When will Wild Bill be back?” asked Perry, as the -scout moved off.</p> - -<p>“Some time to-night.”</p> - -<p>“And the baron, Nomad and Cayuse?”</p> - -<p>“I’m not expecting them until they get here.”</p> - -<p>The scout reached the canvas hammock, swung under -a tree near the place where he and Wild Bill had had -their talk earlier in the day, and stretched himself out -comfortably.</p> - -<p>The Laramie man was a great deal in his mind. How -was he making it at the Circle-B ranch? Somehow, what -Perry had had to say about Jerry Benner had increased -the scout’s worry on Wild Bill’s account.</p> - -<p>If Jerry was so much sharper than his brother, it -might be that Wild Bill would stand in a good deal of -danger from him.</p> - -<p>The scout’s worries did not bother him long. Lulled -by the peaceful quiet of his surroundings, he fell asleep. -Several hours later he was awakened by some one moving -round the hammock. He opened his eyes to find old -Nomad, the baron and Little Cayuse clustered about him.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[177]</span></p> - -<p>“Buenos, pards!” laughed the scout, sitting up in the -hammock. “I thought you were going to stay all night -at Dinkelmann’s?”</p> - -<p>“Dere don’d vas anypody ad home,” answered the -baron, “neider Fritz nor Katrina. Ve hang aroundt a -vile, und den ve come pack.”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’ doin’,” rumbled the old trapper. “Waugh! -I never see sich er quiet time. I ain’t reached a p’int -yit whar I like ter fool erway my time hossback ridin’. -Thet’s all thet happened on this ride ter the Dutchman’s. -I was er hopin’ some o’ them measley cowpunchers would -try ter ride circles around us, jest ter give us a chanst -ter cop out a leetle excitement. But nary nothin’ happened. -Whar’s Wild Bill?”</p> - -<p>Gathering his pards closely around him, the scout told -of the warning of impending trouble that had been sent -to the ranch by the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>Old Nomad began to mutter wrathfully.</p> - -<p>“Shore, oh, shore,” he snorted, “somethin’ ’u’d sartingly -git started ther minit I pulled out. An’ Wild Bill’s -gone ter put ther leetle Hickok kybosh on ther rantankerous -doin’s, hey? Whyever did you stay behind, -pard?”</p> - -<p>The scout explained that Wild Bill had gone to the -Circle-B ranch in disguise, and that he hoped to find out -what the trouble was to be, in case the sky pilot had not -been wrongly informed.</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ catermounts!” mourned the old trapper. -“An’ all this hyer happens while I’m chasin’ up Dutchmen -with ther baron. Cayuse, ain’t ye plumb mad at -yerself fer bein’ sidetracked when thar was somethin’ -excitin’ goin’ on?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[178]</span></p> - -<p>Little Cayuse had never very much to say on any -subject. He merely grunted in answer to the trapper’s -query.</p> - -<p>The baron looked very much distressed.</p> - -<p>“I peen so sorry as plazes,” said he, “dot I vasn’t -here meinseluf when Vild Pill vent avay. Meppy he -vould haf took me mit him. I peen some fine fellers in -a disguise!”</p> - -<p>“Hyer thet!” whooped the trapper. “Et don’t make -no diff’rence how the baron’s got up, the lingo he uses -is a dead give-away on him. Wild Bill, I reckon, kin -kerry ther game through. I’m hopin’ he runs inter -somethin’ lively—an’ thet he passes et eround. Ranchin’ -et is purty tame bizness, seems ter me.”</p> - -<p>The scout and his pards talked until supper time, and -after supper they smoked out under the trees and watched -and waited for Wild Bill. As the hours passed without -bringing him, the scout’s uneasiness increased.</p> - -<p>Perry and his daughter were in the house. The girl -was reading aloud, and her father sat in a near-by chair, -listening.</p> - -<p>It must have been nearly nine o’clock when a beat of -hoofs in the trail brought the pards off the bench.</p> - -<p>“Thar he comes!” declared old Nomad, with intense -satisfaction. “Now we’ll know what kind of er b’ar he’s -ketched by ther tail.”</p> - -<p>A call from the scout brought the horseman to a halt -some distance away from the house.</p> - -<p>“That you, Hickok?” asked Buffalo Bill.</p> - -<p>“Nary, it ain’t, Buffler Bill,” answered a voice. “This -hyer’s Sim Pierce ag’in. I’m droppin’ in purty frequent, -hey?”</p> - -<p>“What’s to pay now, Sim?” returned the scout.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_179">[179]</span></p> - -<p>“Who’s with ye? I got ter know that afore I open -up.”</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce slid down from his horse and moved -closer to the group under the shadowy branches of the -tree.</p> - -<p>“Old Nomad, the baron and Little Cayuse are with me, -Sim,” replied the scout.</p> - -<p>“Perry an’ Mrs. Dunbar in the house?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, ther’s the deuce ter pay, an’ no mistake. Dunbar’s -been arrested.”</p> - -<p>Startled exclamations went up from the pards.</p> - -<p>“What was he arrested for?” demanded the scout.</p> - -<p>“For stealing dimings off of a Jew peddler named Abe -Isaacs.”</p> - -<p>“A frame-up!” breathed the trapper; “a frame-up o’ -Benner’s!”</p> - -<p>“What proof is there that Dunbar stole the diamonds?” -went on the scout.</p> - -<p>“He was ketched by the sher’ff with the stones in his -saddlebags.”</p> - -<p>“I feel so madt aboudt dot I vish I couldt fight,” flared -the baron. “Tunpar vouldn’t do sooch t’ings, und dot’s -all aboudt it. Oof he vas ketched mit der tiamonts, den -somepody pud dem in his sattlepags. You hear vat I -say!”</p> - -<p>“Tell us all you know about it, Sim,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>Sim unbosomed himself, finally getting down to the -point that it was the sky pilot who had sent him to the -ranch this second time, just as he had done the first.</p> - -<p>“He wants ye ter hotfoot it ter Hackamore, Buffler -Bill,” finished Pierce, “kase if anythin’s done fer Nate<span class="pagenum" id="Page_180">[180]</span> -ye’re the one thet’s got ter do it. The Hackamore -sher’ff’ll pay some attention ter you, which he won’t ter -the rest o’ us.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll git the hosses, Buffler,” tuned up the trapper -joyfully, “an’ we’ll hit the breeze to’rds Hackamore.”</p> - -<p>“Not so fast, Nick!” demurred the scout. “I’m the -only one that’s going to Hackamore. The rest of you -are to stay here with Mrs. Dunbar and Perry. What’s -on for to-night is more than any of us know. It’s a -cinch, I think, that this pretended robbery in Hackamore -is only a part of Lige Benner’s plot. He may try -to pull off another part of it here at the ranch, so you -fellows have got to stay and keep your eyes skinned. -When Wild Bill gets here, tell him where I am.”</p> - -<p>The scout’s order was received in gloomy silence. All -the lively doings seemed to be monopolized by Benner’s -ranch and the town of Hackamore, and the peaceful quiet -at the Star-A was not at all alluring.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill was not long in getting riding leather -on Bear Paw. When he drew up in front of his pards, -he leaned from the saddle for a few words of caution.</p> - -<p>“Don’t tell Hattie and her father anything about this, -pards,” said he. “Jordan and I will get Dunbar out of -the scrape, and there’s no use pestering Perry and the -girl with the details. Dunbar can tell them all about it -when we bring him back. And don’t fail to stay here -on guard. Lige Benner isn’t above sending some of his -cowboys here to raise a ruction. If they come, you take -care of them.”</p> - -<p>The scout straightened in his saddle and gathered up -his reins.</p> - -<p>“All right, Sim,” said he.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_181">[181]</span></p> - -<p>The spurs clinked and the two horses leaped forward -into the shadows that overhung the trail.</p> - -<p>“Orders is orders,” growled old Nomad, “but I shore -wisht I was goin’ erlong with Buffler, er else over ter -pay a visit at the Circle-B.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_182">[182]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.<br /> -<span class="fs70">AT ODDS WITH THE SHERIFF.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>It was midnight when Buffalo Bill turned his horse -over to Sim Pierce to be taken to the corral, and stepped -into the office of the Delmonico Hotel.</p> - -<p>There were but three men in the office—Jordan, Isaacs -and the clerk.</p> - -<p>The moment the scout entered the room a load of -anxiety seemed to drop from the sky pilot’s shoulders. -He started toward the scout with outstretched hand.</p> - -<p>“I’m more than glad to see you, Buffalo Bill!” he exclaimed. -“Our friend Nate is the victim of some dastardly -plot, and circumstantial evidence is all against -him.”</p> - -<p>“Let’s go to the jail and see him, Jordan,” said the -scout.</p> - -<p>“The sheriff won’t allow any one to see him.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon he’ll let me.”</p> - -<p>“He says he won’t let a soul into the jail to-night. -But here’s some one else you can talk with—Abraham -Isaacs, the man from whom the diamonds were taken.”</p> - -<p>The scout whirled on Isaacs. Under his searching -eyes, the Jew lowered his face. The two hands that -held his battered satchel on his knees trembled perceptibly. -In three strides the scout was at the Jew’s side.</p> - -<p>“Your name is Abraham Isaacs, is it?” he demanded -sharply.</p> - -<p>“Yah, so,” the Jew answered, keeping his eyes averted.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_183">[183]</span></p> - -<p>“You say young Dunbar stole some diamonds from -you?”</p> - -<p>“I say dot I lose some tiamonts. Dey was foundt on -Dunbar. Vat you t’ink?”</p> - -<p>“I think there’s been a hocus-pocus, and that Dunbar -is getting the worst of it. Where are the diamonds you -lost, Isaacs?”</p> - -<p>The Jew opened the satchel and took out a handful of -rings, watch charms and buttons—all set with stones. -The diamond-mounted buttons were affected by some of -the wealthy cattle barons.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill picked up one of the rings and looked at -it closely. Isaacs scarcely breathed during the examination, -fearing that Buffalo Bill might discover that the -stone was an imitation.</p> - -<p>“Nate wasn’t intending to return to the ranch for a -day or two,” said the scout, dropping the ring into the -Jew’s hand. “Why did he start back in the afternoon of -the same day he reached Hackamore?”</p> - -<p>“Pecause,” croaked Isaacs, “he wanted to get avay mit -der tiamonts.”</p> - -<p>“That wasn’t the reason,” spoke up Jordan calmly. -“He didn’t know I had sent Sim Pierce to the Star-A -ranch. When he saw Pierce, and Pierce told him, Nate -came to my room and I gave him the information I had -sent to you. He was worried, and decided to ride back -to the ranch at once. There is no doubt but it was -that move that aroused suspicion against him. The sheriff -was here in the office when Isaacs reported the robbery, -and he at once started after Nate with a posse. -When Nate was overhauled and searched, the diamonds -were found in his saddlebags.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_184">[184]</span></p> - -<p>“How was it possible for Nate to take the stones—assuming -that he did take them?”</p> - -<p>“I vas mit him in vone of der hotel rooms,” answered -the Jew, “und I sold him a tiamont ring vort’ vone hundert -an’ feefty toller for vone hundert tollar. It must -haf been vile he vas buying der ring dot he took der -odder t’ings. Dot’s der only shance he vouldt haf.”</p> - -<p>“You’re too sharp, Isaacs,” declared the scout, “to let -any one fool you that way. Nate couldn’t have taken the -stones right under your eyes.”</p> - -<p>“Vell, how it vas der shtones vas foundt in his sattlepags?”</p> - -<p>“There’s an explanation,” said the scout curtly, “and -Nate isn’t involved in it. Were Benner, or any of his -men, in town during the afternoon?”</p> - -<p>“Jerry Benner was in town, Buffler Bill,” called the -clerk from behind the counter.</p> - -<p>“Was he at this hotel at the time of the robbery?”</p> - -<p>“Nix, he wasn’t at this hotel at all. I only heerd he -was in town from fellers that seen him.”</p> - -<p>“Did you see Jerry Benner, Isaacs?” asked the scout, -fixing a keen glance on the Jew.</p> - -<p>“How shouldt I see him?” quavered Isaacs.</p> - -<p>“I don’t know how you did, but did you?”</p> - -<p>“No, I dit nod see Cherry.”</p> - -<p>Once more the scout turned to the clerk.</p> - -<p>“Keep your eyes on the Jew, will you,” he asked, -“while Jordan and I go to the jail for a talk with Nate -Dunbar? If he tries to get away, pull a gun on him. -This robbery business is going to be sifted to the bottom, -and those who have got Dunbar into this fix are -going to suffer for it.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll watch him, ye kin bet on that,” said the clerk.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_185">[185]</span> -“He won’t leave here, Buffler Bill, an’ when ye want him -ye’ll know whar ter find him.”</p> - -<p>“Buenos!” The scout whirled away towards the door. -“Come on, parson,” said he; “we’ll now move toward the -jail.”</p> - -<p>The jail was an isolated shanty at the end of the street. -Gloomy shadows hung around it. As the scout and the -sky pilot came up in front of the small structure, a man -started up out of the shadows and planted himself in -front of them.</p> - -<p>“That’s far enough!” the man snapped.</p> - -<p>“It’s not far enough to suit me,” returned the scout.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’m the one that’s boss here.”</p> - -<p>“Who are you?”</p> - -<p>“Bloom, the sheriff.”</p> - -<p>“And <ins class="corr" id="tn185" title="Transcriber’s Note—“I’m Buffalo Bill, anr a frienh” changed to “I’m Buffalo Bill, and a friend”.">I’m Buffalo Bill, and a friend</ins> -of Nate Dunbar. I’ve come to talk with him, and Mr. Jordan is with -me.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t talk with him to-night. That shot goes -as it lays.”</p> - -<p>Bloom, the sheriff, had a rifle in his hands. As he -spoke he brought it to “port arms” and glared at the -scout over the barrel.</p> - -<p>“I’d rather not have any trouble with you, Bloom,” -said the scout, the words clicking like the snap of a -breechblock, “but you’re putting on the screws at a -time when it’s unnecessary and useless. Why can’t we -go in and talk with Nate?”</p> - -<p>“Because I tell you you can’t,” ground out the sheriff.</p> - -<p>The next moment the scout had made a move. It was -a lightning-like move, and when the sheriff had caught -his breath the scout was standing in front of him with -the rifle. Nor was the rifle at “port arms;” its point -was leveled at Bloom’s breast.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_186">[186]</span></p> - -<p>“That’s the way you stack up, is it?” asked the sheriff, -in a tense voice.</p> - -<p>“It is,” was the cool reply. “Maybe you’d like to -lock me up with Dunbar? Think twice before you try. -This is not a time to say ‘no’ to me, Bloom. Lead the -way into the jail.”</p> - -<p>The sheriff hesitated.</p> - -<p>“On an occasion like this I’m not in the habit of -repeating an order,” went on the scout significantly.</p> - -<p>The sheriff snapped his jaws together, whirled on his -heel and unlocked the door of the jail. When he had -stepped inside, the scout and the sky pilot crossed the -threshold after him.</p> - -<p>“Strike a light, Bloom,” ordered the scout.</p> - -<p>A match was scratched and a lamp lighted. In the -middle of the shanty’s one room stood a bench; and on -the bench, wrists and ankles manacled, sat Dunbar.</p> - -<p>His face was haggard, but a light of hope shone in his -eyes as they rested on the scout.</p> - -<p>“Buffalo Bill!” he exclaimed joyfully. “I thought -you’d come as soon as you found out what had happened -to me. Does Hattie know? Or Dick?”</p> - -<p>“Neither of them has been told, Nate,” answered the -scout, stepping to the young rancher’s side and dropping -a kindly hand on his shoulder. “Nor will they know,” -he added, “until we get you out of this and you tell -them yourself.”</p> - -<p>The handcuffs rattled as Dunbar gripped the scout’s -hand.</p> - -<p>“You’re a friend worth having, amigo,” he murmured, -“same as Jordan, there.”</p> - -<p>“This foul injustice, Nate,” said the sky pilot, “will -not be allowed to continue long. Truth will prevail, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_187">[187]</span> -those who have caused this trouble will be made to -suffer for it.”</p> - -<p>“What do you know about those diamonds they say -you stole, Nate?” inquired the scout. “Anything?”</p> - -<p>“Not a thing, Buffalo Bill,” protested Dunbar. “I was -hiking for the ranch when Bloom, and three cowboys, -came slashing up alongside my horse, with their guns -out. They ordered me to lift my hands. I did as they -told me. Bloom hunted through my saddlebags and -pulled out the diamonds. That was the first time I ever -saw them.”</p> - -<p>“Likely yarn,” grunted Bloom. “Caught with the -goods on, an’ you haven’t the nerve to own up.”</p> - -<p>“I didn’t take the diamonds!” cried Dunbar angrily.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have a chance to prove it in court. And I -reckon you won’t prove it. You’ll go to the nearest -‘pen,’ and that’ll stop these troubles in the cow country.”</p> - -<p>The scout turned slowly and swept his eyes over -Bloom.</p> - -<p>“You’re doing a heap of talking, seems to me,” said -he, “for a man who’s merely an officer of the law. What -is it to you whether Dunbar goes free, or goes over -the road? Anything personal in it for you?”</p> - -<p>The sheriff scowled but did not reply.</p> - -<p>“He’s a friend of Lige Benner’s,” declared Dunbar, -“and no friend of Perry’s or mine. While we were -having our hard time on the Brazos, he was throwing the -gaff into us every chance he got.”</p> - -<p>“You’re a pill,” scowled Bloom, “and you ought to be -run out of the country. That’s how I feel.”</p> - -<p>“Well,” said the scout scathingly, “be advised by me, -Bloom, and don’t let your personal spite interfere with -your duties as a public officer.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_188">[188]</span></p> - -<p>“You’re not so high an’ mighty,” sneered Bloom. “Because -you’re a government scout, you ain’t bigger’n the -whole State of Texas.”</p> - -<p>“I’m big enough to look after you and take care of -Nate,” replied Buffalo Bill. “The boy’s no thief.”</p> - -<p>“Prove it!” grunted Bloom.</p> - -<p>The door was kicked open just at that moment, and -Wild Bill pushed breathlessly into the room.</p> - -<p>“Sure we’ll prove it!” he cried; “by gorry, that’s what -I’m here for—it’s what I’ve been pounding over this -range for during the last five hours. Nate’s innocent! -Listen to the mellow trill of my bazoo, all hands!”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill dropped wearily down on the bench beside -Dunbar.</p> - -<p>The Laramie man presented an appearance that was -badly demoralized, to say the least. He still wore his -mismatched footgear and his torn slouch hat. Where -the disguise had been stripped away his usual costume -showed itself, but it did not appreciably improve his appearance. -His hands, face and clothing were covered -with grime.</p> - -<p>“Can—can this be Mr. Hickok?” faltered the sky pilot.</p> - -<p>“It’s Wild Bill, parson,” laughed the scout. “Where’d -you come from, pard?”</p> - -<p>“From the Star-A ranch last, amigo,” replied Wild -Bill. “Old Nomad gave me a tip as to what had happened, -and where you were, and I raced on here. Beeswax -has had some travel to-night—and it was a bee line -and the keen jump every foot of the way.”</p> - -<p>“What happened at the Circle-B?”</p> - -<p>“I’m getting to that. The Jew, Abe Isaacs, is at the -hotel. I tarried there just long enough to see him in -the office and to find out that you were at the jail. I<span class="pagenum" id="Page_189">[189]</span> -think the Jew better be here with us while the case is -tried.”</p> - -<p>“This case ain’t goin’ to be tried,” cried the sheriff, -“till it comes up in the regular way.”</p> - -<p>“Who’s he, Pard Cody?” asked Wild Bill, nodding -toward Bloom.</p> - -<p>“He’s the sheriff,” answered the scout.</p> - -<p>“Oh, is that all? Can’t he be quiet till he’s spoken to? -You’re the judge, Buffalo Bill, and the parson is the jury. -I’m attorney for the defense, and the sheriff can be attorney -for the prosecution, if he wants to. Who’s going -after Isaacs—the judge or the jury?”</p> - -<p>“The jury had better go,” laughed Jordan; “the judge -has to keep an eye on the attorney for the prosecution. -I’ll be back before many minutes have passed.”</p> - -<p>The sky pilot left the jail.</p> - -<p>“I’ve stood for this foolishness about as long as I’m -a-going to,” snarled Bloom. “Give me that gun, Buffalo -Bill, and clear out o’ here.”</p> - -<p>“Not till after the trial,” was the cool reply. “Calm -down, Bloom. Don’t get rantankerous. I’ve got a Long -Tom and two sixes, and Pard Hickok has a pair of forty-fives. -Just reflect on the amount of lead we could -throw at one broadside, and take things as you find -them.”</p> - -<p>“Has the sheriff got an ax to grind, Pard Cody,” asked -Wild Bill, “or is he just naturally ugly?”</p> - -<p>“A little of both, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“You fellers can’t ride roughshod over the law o’ this -State,” cried Bloom.</p> - -<p>“We’ll ride roughshod over you,” flung back Wild -Bill, “if you give us any more of your back talk. What<span class="pagenum" id="Page_190">[190]</span> -I’ve gone through to-night hasn’t sweetened my temper -any.”</p> - -<p>“Have you found out something that proves I’m not a -thief?” asked Nate.</p> - -<p>“I’m next to a whole lote, Nate, that maybe you never -dreamed about,” said Wild Bill. “But wait till the case -comes to trial; wait till—— Ah, the parson and the Hebrew! -Here’s where we get busy.”</p> - -<p>It seemed evident that Isaacs had not come willingly -to the jail. The sky pilot had an arm hooked through -his and was half dragging him along. From one of the -Jew’s hands swung his always-present satchel.</p> - -<p>Isaacs’ face was an ashen hue under the lamplight, -and with his free hand he pulled nervously at his long -beard.</p> - -<p>“Here’s Mr. Isaacs, Buffalo Bill,” announced the sky -pilot, pushing his companion forward.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be scared, Isaacs,” said Wild Bill, getting up -from the bench, “you’re only a witness. Sit down.”</p> - -<p>“Chentlemen,” quavered the Jew, sinking down on the -bench, “vat is der meaning of dis?”</p> - -<p>“You’ll know in a little while,” answered Wild Bill. -“If the attorney for the prosecution—or persecution—will -state his case, I’ll come back at him with a handful -of cold facts. Go on, Bloom.”</p> - -<p>“You fellers’ll not make a fool o’ me,” growled the -sheriff. “Just get done with your play and mosey out -o’ here. That’s all I want o’ you.”</p> - -<p>“Then, your honor,” said Wild Bill, bowing to the -scout, “I might as well open up my bag of tricks. This -Jew, Abraham Isaacs, came to the Circle-B ranch yesterday -and had a palaver with Lige and Jerry Benner. -Isaacs was piloted out there by Red Steve, as graceless<span class="pagenum" id="Page_191">[191]</span> -a scoundrel as ever went unhung. Lige selected about -thirteen hundred dollars worth of jewelry from that -bag of Isaacs’, but said he wouldn’t take the stuff unless -Isaacs would help him prove Nate Dunbar a thief. Jerry -Benner did most of the talking, and——”</p> - -<p>“Lieber Gott,” wailed Isaacs suddenly, slumping down -on the floor and hugging Wild Bill about the knees. -“Dot iss plendy! Say no more, mein friendt! Say no -more!”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill kicked the peddler away.</p> - -<p>“Get back on your bench,” he ordered sternly, “and -don’t butt into my argument. Isaacs agreed to come -back to Hackamore, while Dunbar was in town, and put -up a howl that he had been robbed. Jerry Benner was -also to come to town, get some fake diamonds from -Isaacs, and put them in Dunbar’s saddlebags. That’s -what happened. Lige Benner and his brother Jerry -fixed up this little game, and Abraham Isaacs helped them -carry it through. Is that so?” he cried, turning on the -Jew. “Answer!”</p> - -<p>“Ach, it iss so!” groaned Isaacs. “Vat a miserable -mans I vas! I didn’t vant to do dot, aber I lose der -sale if I don’t.”</p> - -<p>“You admit,” went on Wild Bill, “that you gave those -diamonds to Jerry Benner?”</p> - -<p>“Yah, so!”</p> - -<p>“And that Benner was going to put them in Dunbar’s -saddlebags?”</p> - -<p>“It vas like you say! Vat a most unhabby man iss -me! Mercy, chentlemen! Don’t do nodding mit me. -It vas Lige und Cherry Benner.”</p> - -<p>“The defense rests,” said Wild Bill.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_192">[192]</span></p> - -<p>“The case goes to the jury,” said the scout, turning -to the sky pilot. “What’s your verdict, parson?”</p> - -<p>“Not guilty,” said the sky pilot promptly.</p> - -<p>“The prisoner at the bar is discharged,” declared the -scout. “Bloom, take off those manacles.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll not do any such thing!” cried the sheriff. “I’ll -let you kill me first.”</p> - -<p>“He ought to be killed, Pard Cody,” growled the Laramie -man, “even if you make up your mind you won’t do -it. I’d like the pleasure of taking off those iron gyves -myself. Hold that rifle on him while I go through his -clothes.”</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill brought the rifle to bear on Bloom, and -ordered him to put his hands in the air. Bloom fumed -and protested, but his hands went up nevertheless.</p> - -<p>The Laramie man searched his pockets, found a bunch -of keys, and soon had the manacles off the young rancher’s -wrists and ankles.</p> - -<p>“You men will pay for this high-handed proceeding!” -scowled Bloom.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill laughed.</p> - -<p>“You were the only one who did anything high-handed, -sheriff,” he returned.</p> - -<p>“How did you find out all this, Wild Bill?” queried -the dazed Dunbar. “I had a notion that Lige Benner -was back of the play, but there wasn’t any way I could -prove it. I seemed to be tied up hard and fast in circumstantial -evidence.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill told what had happened to him at the -Circle-B ranch. He protected Ace Hawkins, however, by -failing to mention his name in the presence of the sheriff. -Bloom was manifestly a friend of the Benners, and not -to be trusted with any information about Hawkins. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_193">[193]</span> -Laramie man let it appear as though he had effected his -own escape by way of the chimney.</p> - -<p>“That sounds too good to be true,” said Bloom sarcastically.</p> - -<p>“I reckon it does, to you,” returned Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“If you know when you’re well off, sheriff,” said the -scout, “you’ll let this matter drop. You don’t show up -very well in what has happened. I’m ready to meet you, -though, on any grounds you care to cut out.”</p> - -<p>Bloom made no answer, but stared stonily at the scout.</p> - -<p>“Nate,” pursued Buffalo Bill, “you’ll march out of -here arm in arm with your good friend, the sky pilot; -Wild Bill, you’ll personally conduct Abe Isaacs back to -the hotel office where we can get his testimony in writing; -I’ll bring up the rear of the procession and stay -company front with Bloom, ready to begin on him whenever -he makes the proper sign.”</p> - -<p>But the sheriff made no “sign.” The scout and his -party walked unmolested out of the jail, and proceeded -in the direction of the Delmonico Hotel.</p> - -<p>“Shake, Pard Hickok,” said the scout, when they were -nearing the hotel office. “You’ve done fine work, although -it’s hard to understand how you slipped your -bonds and got out of that chimney—but you’re here, -and that proves that you called the turn somehow.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill chuckled as he looked around and took the -scout’s hand.</p> - -<p>“I’m in on this, Wild Bill,” spoke up Dunbar, seizing -the Laramie man’s hand when the scout was through -with it. “This is something more I owe the scout and -his pards.”</p> - -<p>“You owe more to the sky pilot, Dunbar, than to any -one else,” answered Wild Bill.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_194">[194]</span></p> - -<p>“How is that?” asked Jordan.</p> - -<p>“I’ll tell you later.”</p> - -<p>The trembling Isaacs was conducted into the hotel -office and made to write out an account of his agreement -with Lige and Jerry Benner. Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, and -Jordan signed the paper as witnesses.</p> - -<p>“Now, Isaacs,” said the scout, folding the paper and -thrusting it into his pocket, “as it will soon be known to -the Benners that they have lost out through you, I’d suggest -that you do not linger in Hackamore. An extended -sojourn might not be pleasant for you. It’s only a suggestion, -however, and you can do as you please.”</p> - -<p>“I vill go,” declared Isaacs eagerly, “und I vill go -now.”</p> - -<p>And he did go—taking Lige Benner’s five hundred -dollars with him.</p> - -<p>The morning gray was streaking the east when all -this business was finished.</p> - -<p>“Suppose we go to bed?” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“Come out hyer fust, you men,” called a voice from -the front of the hotel.</p> - -<p>It was the clerk. He had accompanied Isaacs to the -corral to make sure that he took his own horse, and he -was now calling those in the office from the hitching -pole.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill, Wild Bill, and Jordan hurriedly answered -the clerk’s summons. In the dim, ghostly light -of coming day a weary horse could be seen with drooping -head over the pole. A man was hanging to the saddle—bound -to the horn and cantle by a rope. His arms -hung limply, and his head was bowed over on the horse’s -neck.</p> - -<p>“Who is it?” demanded the scout.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_195">[195]</span></p> - -<p>“Pass the ante,” the clerk answered. “The hoss must -hev come up hyer while I was at the c’ral. The man’s -tied in the saddle. By jings, he’s shot an’ past talkin’! -It’s—it’s one o’ Benner’s men. It’s Ace Hawkins.”</p> - -<p>The sky pilot and Wild Bill both started hastily forward.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_196">[196]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.<br /> -<span class="fs70">IN A GOOD CAUSE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The limp form in the saddle was untied and carried -into the hotel. The clerk proffered the use of a room—the -same room in which Dunbar had talked with Isaacs—and -Hawkins was borne in there and laid down on the -bed. A doctor was sent for.</p> - -<p>“He’s got his gruel, that’s my opinion,” announced -Wild Bill, surveying a wound in Hawkins’ breast.</p> - -<p>“This,” said Jordan, in a voice that throbbed with -deep feeling, “is my friend—the very man who came -from Benner’s ranch and told me that trouble was brewing -for Perry and Dunbar.”</p> - -<p>“And he’s the man, parson,” added Wild Bill, “who -helped me out of Benner’s adobe house. Red Steve -and his White Caps were standing guard around the -house to see that I didn’t make a getaway; and it was -Hawkins, here, who came down the chimney, took the -ropes off me, and helped me get out and find my horse. -He said he had helped me because he was a friend of -yours, and that you had brought him to see where he -had been going wrong. When I left Hawkins, he was -just starting off with Red Steve and the other White -Caps. The scoundrels must have found out he helped me -to get away—and paid him for it.”</p> - -<p>Wild Bill, with sadness and regret in his face, looked -down on the unconscious man.</p> - -<p>“It was in a good cause, a good cause,” murmured the -sky pilot. “Although a brand snatched from the burning,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_197">[197]</span> -yet Ace Hawkins is nevertheless sure of his reward.”</p> - -<p>The minister bent over and parted the tangled hair -from Hawkins’ forehead; then, gently, he began chafing -his temples.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill had laid a hand on his heart.</p> - -<p>“He’s alive yet,” said he.</p> - -<p>At that moment the doctor came.</p> - -<p>“A shooting, eh?” said he, looking down at the man -on the bed with merely professional interest. “Pretty -bad, but I’ll see what I can do.”</p> - -<p>The most the doctor could do was to revive Hawkins. -The man opened his eyes, and stared around.</p> - -<p>“Whar’s Buffler Bill?” he asked feebly.</p> - -<p>“Here!” said the scout, pushing close to the bed.</p> - -<p>“Yer pard, Hickok——”</p> - -<p>“Here, too, Hawkins,” cut in Wild Bill, stepping to -the scout’s side.</p> - -<p>Hawkins lifted a hand, and brushed it across his forehead.</p> - -<p>“The little hoss brought me ter town, eh?” he muttered. -“I was purty nigh fagged when I got that thar -rope around me an’ tied ter the saddle horn. I reckon -I’m about done an’——” He paused abruptly, a faint -gleam coming into his eyes as they rested on the sky -pilot. “That you, parson?”</p> - -<p>“It’s I, Ace,” said Jordan, coming up on the other side -of the bed and taking Hawkins by the hand. “Who did -this?”</p> - -<p>“Red Steve. I reckoned he might.”</p> - -<p>“Because you helped me?” asked Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Nary,” said Hawkins, a faint smile hovering around<span class="pagenum" id="Page_198">[198]</span> -his lips, “the White Caps hadn’t found that out yit. This -was done bekase I tried ter help Perry.”</p> - -<p>“Perry?” gasped Nate Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Yes, Perry,” went on Hawkins. “I got ter be muy -pronto if I git you fellers headed right. Remember when -I left ye, Wild Bill?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Well, the White Caps rode ter the Star-A ranch. I -was afeared we might see ye thar, but we didn’t. A trick -was played on Perry.”</p> - -<p>“Trick?” echoed the scout. “What sort of a trick?”</p> - -<p>“Why, Red Steve had Shorty Dobbs take off his white -fixin’s an’ ride up ter the ranch house. Shorty asked for -Perry. When Perry come out, Shorty told him that -Nate Dunbar had been arrested in Hackamore for -stealin’ dimings from Isaacs, that Buffler Bill had gone -to town, and that Buffler had sent him—Shorty—arter -Perry. Perry wasn’t ter tell anybody what had happened -’r whar he was goin’. He sneaked out ter the c’ral, got -onter his hoss, an’ started with Shorty. When them two -come ter whar the rest of us was waitin’ fer ’em, in the -timber, Perry was nabbed. I tried ter help Perry, an’ -then’s when Red Steve let me have it. I knowed right -off I’d got my whatfer, but I wanted ter make Hackamore -an’ tell the facts ter Buffler Bill.”</p> - -<p>Hawkins’ strength failed at this point, and the doctor -had to give him a stimulant to enable him to rally. Presently -he went on.</p> - -<p>“They chased me, Red Steve, Shorty, an’ the rest, but -the little hoss was too fast fer ’em. I tell ye what, that -buckskin kin go! I was afeared, though, that I’d play -out afore we reached town, an’ that the hoss would kerry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_199">[199]</span> -me back ter the Circle-B. But he didn’t. He brung me -hyer.”</p> - -<p>“What about Perry, Hawkins?” asked the scout.</p> - -<p>“It’s long odds whether ye save him er not. They’ve -took him ter Crowder’s c’ral—they—they——”</p> - -<p>Hawkins’ head fell back, and his eyes closed. Jordan -threw a questioning, startled look at the doctor, but the -doctor shook his head.</p> - -<p>“Not yet, parson,” said he; “it won’t be long, though.”</p> - -<p>“They’ve bagged Dick Perry—the scoundrels!” muttered -Nate Dunbar. “What’re they going to do with -him?”</p> - -<p>“If they follow out the plan as I got it from Red -Steve,” said Wild Bill, “they’re going to stake Perry -out and head a drove of stampeding longhorns his way.”</p> - -<p>The sky pilot’s face went white.</p> - -<p>“They couldn’t be so inhuman!” he declared. “They -wouldn’t dare do such a murderous thing!”</p> - -<p>“You don’t know Red Steve, parson,” said Wild Bill. -“Even Lige Benner balked at that game—but his brother -Jerry stood for it, and Red Steve is going to do this unknown -to Lige.”</p> - -<p>“We’ve got to do something,” cried Dunbar. “We -can’t stand here like this.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Nate,” agreed the scout; “we’ve got to -make a quick move for Perry. The three of us can -manage it, I reckon. It’s a fight against long odds, for -Red Steve and his White Caps have several hours the -start of us, but we’ll do what we can. Do you know -where Crowder’s corral is?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. The corral ain’t used now, except for an occasional -round-up.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_200">[200]</span></p> - -<p>“Well, that’s our destination. Spurs and quirts, -friends!”</p> - -<p>As they started from the room, the scout turned and -looked back. Jordan was just laying a blanket over the -silent form on the bed. He caught the scout’s look, and -nodded.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill hurried on after Dunbar and Wild Bill. -In ten minutes they were slashing along the trail toward -the Brazos, Dunbar laying a course that was to bring -them to Crowder’s old corral by the shortest route.</p> - -<p>“This is a bad job for Red Steve,” remarked Buffalo -Bill, as they galloped along.</p> - -<p>“It’s not the only notch Red Steve has on his guns,” -said Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“That Ace Hawkins was plumb white!” declared the -Laramie man. “He did what he thought was right, and -it seems hard that he’s got to pay for it like this.”</p> - -<p>“Hawkins and the sky pilot must have been pretty -good friends, Pard Hickok. If they hadn’t been, -Hawkins would never have gone to the parson, as he -did, and told him that trouble was hatching at the -Circle-B ranch.”</p> - -<p>“Human nature is a queer country,” mused Wild Bill. -“No Apache Injun could have thought up a worse -scheme than Red Steve concocted for putting Perry out -of the way. Hawkins looked to be on a par with Steve, -Shorty Dobbs, and the other White Caps, but, from the -way he’s acted, is easy to see you can’t always judge a -man by his looks. I take off my hat to Ace Hawkins! -He was a whole man.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar’s mind was running on Perry—as was quite -natural, in the circumstances.</p> - -<p>“Red Steve decoyed Perry away from the ranch,” said<span class="pagenum" id="Page_201">[201]</span> -Dunbar, “and got him to leave without telling Hattie, -or any of your pards, Buffalo Bill, where he was going. -It was my trouble that was getting Dick away—and the -whelps downed him in the trail, and by now must have -him at Crowder’s corral. If we can save Dick, well and -good; if we can’t, I’ll camp on Red Steve’s trail, and -stay there until I get him or he gets me, one or t’other.”</p> - -<p>“If I get a good chance,” cried Wild Bill, “I’ll camp -on Red Steve’s trail myself, just on account of Ace -Hawkins. Hawkins, while he was with Steve’s gang, -was playing a part, same as I was. He did it well, too; -so well that he fooled me. But, talking of snakes, that -Jerry Benner is the most venomous rattler loose in this -cattle country. Lige can’t hold a candle to him.”</p> - -<p>The horses were none too fresh, especially Beeswax; -but they stretched themselves gallantly to their work. -Dunbar set the pace. The scout had brought Bloom’s -rifle with him. He had taken it from the jail, in order to -be on the safe side; and when the start for Crowder’s -corral was made it seemed good business to keep the -gun in hand against possible emergencies.</p> - -<p>After two hours of rapid travel, the three riders -topped a “rise” that gave them a distant view of the -Brazos.</p> - -<p>“Over there,” announced Dunbar, pointing with his -quirt, “is Crowder’s corral.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_202">[202]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI.<br /> -<span class="fs70">LONG ODDS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The Brazos River, along this part of its course, flowed -through bluffy country. Here and there the low bluffs -gave way to show the river, sparkling in between.</p> - -<p>The old corral came distinctly into view at about the -time a wave of stampeding cattle rolled down toward -the plain out of the mouth of one of the gullies in the -bluffs.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill shifted his eyes from the log walls of the -corral to the rushing tide of steers.</p> - -<p>“There goes the stampede!” shouted Wild Bill. -“We’re not a minute too soon!”</p> - -<p>“Where’s Perry?” demanded the frantic Dunbar, -sweeping his eyes over the level country in the vicinity -of the corral.</p> - -<p>“If you want to locate Perry,” answered the scout, -“watch the cattle. The scoundrels who started that -stampede must have got them headed in the way they -want them to go.”</p> - -<p>The thump of hoofs and the click of knocking horns -could be heard distinctly, while the gully began to smoke -from the dust kicked up by the racing steers.</p> - -<p>“I can’t see Perry,” cried Dunbar; “that confounded -dust blurs everything. Let’s head off the cattle, if we -can! Perhaps we can get them to milling!”</p> - -<p>Everything considered, this seemed to be the best -course. It was doubtful whether the frenzied longhorns -would keep to the course marked out for them by Red<span class="pagenum" id="Page_203">[203]</span> -Steve and his men, and in this very doubt lay a chance -for Perry.</p> - -<p>Uncertainty, however, hedged in every move the scout -and his two companions could make. Had they known -definitely just where Perry was, they could have planned -their efforts in his behalf more intelligently.</p> - -<p>The three riders scattered, Dunbar riding to nag at -the herd’s flank close in toward the bluffs. Wild Bill -made a dead set at the rolling, dusty tide nearer the corral. -The scout, on the other hand, pointed Bear Paw in -a direction that would cut the wide path along which the -steers were running at a hundred yards or more in advance -of the leaders.</p> - -<p>As the scout rode, he not only watched the steers, but -kept on the alert for some sign of Red Steve and the -scoundrels with him.</p> - -<p>The dust had become a dense cloud, and screened most -of the frenzied herd. From the depths of the cloud came -the clickety-clack of striking horns and the rumble of -hoofs.</p> - -<p>Suddenly the scout grew rigid in his saddle. The next -moment he had lifted himself high in his stirrups, and -was peering ahead at the object that had flashed before -his eyes.</p> - -<p>The dust whirled and eddied about the object so that, -for a few moments, the scout was not sure of what he -saw. When Bear Paw had brought him closer, every -doubt faded.</p> - -<p>Perry was before him, and directly in the course of -the charging steers!</p> - -<p>Four stakes had been planted in the earth, so as to -form a square. In the centre of the square lay Perry,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_204">[204]</span> -flat on his back, arms and legs stretched out. Each -wrist and each ankle was fastened to a stake.</p> - -<p>The cattleman’s torture, as he lay helpless between the -stakes, hearing the stampeding herd draw closer and -closer, must have been intense.</p> - -<p>What was there the scout could do? While Bear -Paw continued to race on, Buffalo Bill once more lifted -himself in his stirrups and shouted for Wild Bill and -Dunbar.</p> - -<p>The dust was so thick he could not see either of the -men, and the noise was so great his voice could not -travel far.</p> - -<p>If anything was done for Perry, it must be the scout -alone who did it.</p> - -<p>There was but one move open to him. This was to -fling himself forward and get between the approaching -steers and the helpless man roped to the stakes.</p> - -<p>Just what could be accomplished by this move was -problematical. There was absolutely no other way, however, -by which even possible aid could be given to Perry.</p> - -<p>It was a time when seconds counted. Half a minute -brought the scout in the position he had settled upon, -and he pulled Bear Paw to a sharp halt. He was between -the rancher and the moving dust cloud—the cloud from -whose forward edge pushed the foam-flecked nostrils and -the wide horns of the charging leaders.</p> - -<p>Turning half around in his saddle so as to face the -steer, the scout lifted the gun from the saddle horn.</p> - -<p>Could quick work with the rifle save Perry, or would -that rushing tide of steers overwhelm Buffalo Bill and -the unfortunate cattle baron?</p> - -<p>Even as this momentous problem flashed through the -scout’s brain the rifle was at his shoulder.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">[205]</span></p> - -<p>Sping!</p> - -<p>The hoarse roar of the gun echoed suddenly against -the background of noise caused by the steers.</p> - -<p>One of the animals pitched forward.</p> - -<p>Swiftly the scout worked the breech mechanism and -forced a fresh cartridge into place.</p> - -<p>Sping!</p> - -<p>Another steer went down.</p> - -<p>He picked the animals off the edge of the herd, so that -those behind had to swerve farther and farther to the -right in order to find clear ground.</p> - -<p>Sping! coughed the rifle; clatter, clatter, sping!</p> - -<p>Six shots emptied the magazine, but the last two bullets -dropped steers in such a way that those behind -tumbled over the slain, so that there was a horrible tangle -of living and struggling animals, rolling and floundering -on the plain.</p> - -<p>But the main part of the herd had been deflected. Sitting -breathless in his saddle, the king of scouts saw the -edge of the rushing herd just graze the stakes. Loose -earth was thrown at him and Perry by the flying hoofs, -and a choking fog rolled around and over them.</p> - -<p>In three or four minutes the last of the steers had -passed. Six had been left on the plain, and to those -six Buffalo Bill and Perry owed their lives.</p> - -<p>Wild Bill and Dunbar, now that the dust had settled -somewhat so they could see, put spurs to their horses and -dashed toward the scout.</p> - -<p>“What were you killing Circle-B steers for, pard?” -asked Wild Bill, his voice husky with the dust.</p> - -<p>“To turn the herd so it would go around Perry,” answered -the scout.</p> - -<p>“Perry?” echoed Dunbar.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">[206]</span></p> - -<p>The scout backed Bear Paw one side and waved his -hand toward the stakes, and the man bound between -them.</p> - -<p>A bellow of anger broke from the Laramie man, to be -taken up and re-echoed by Dunbar.</p> - -<p>Throwing himself from his saddle, the young rancher -jerked a knife from his pocket and slashed the ropes that -held Perry in his torturing position.</p> - -<p>For some time Perry could not move or speak, so worn -out and spent was he from the ordeal through which he -had passed. At last he succeeded in rising to a sitting -posture and turned his bloodshot eyes on the scout.</p> - -<p>“Cody,” said he huskily, “you fought against long odds, -and you won out with the narrowest kind of a margin. -If you hadn’t turned those steers by a few feet, just -where and when you did, you and I would both have -been done for.”</p> - -<p>“A miss is as good as a mile,” laughed the scout. -“There wasn’t time to cut the ropes and ride away -with you, so I had to stand my ground and fall back on -the rifle. Red Steve pegged you out, like that?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know who it was. The scoundrels wore white -caps drawn over their heads. They got hold of me by a -trick—a trick that would have worked successfully ninety-nine -times out of a hundred. A man came to the -house and asked for me. When I went out, he said that -Nate had been arrested for stealing diamonds, that Buffalo -Bill had gone to Hackamore, and that I was wanted -there. I wasn’t to tell my daughter, nor any of Buffalo -Bill’s pards. I could understand about not telling Hattie, -but why I was not to tell the scout’s pards was a mystery. -I see now that Red Steve was afraid, if old Nomad, -the baron and Little Cayuse knew where I was going,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">[207]</span> -they might try to dissuade me, or to let some one else go. -I hadn’t got far from the house along the trail when the -white-capped men made an attack. The attack was unexpected, -and I was taken at a disadvantage. They bound -me and carried me to the old corral. There I was left -till morning, when they brought me here and staked me -out.</p> - -<p>“I hadn’t an idea what they were intending to do; but, -when I heard the rumble of racing hoofs, I surmised -what the fiends were about. They were planning to have -those cattle race over me and trample my life out! This -must have been some of Lige Benner’s doing. But how -did you three manage to learn of my predicament?”</p> - -<p>“If you feel able to ride, Perry,” said the scout, “we -can talk that over on the way back to the ranch. What -became of your horse?”</p> - -<p>“He got away during the fight I had with the White -Caps on the trail. I presume he went back to the ranch. -Hattie is probably doing a lot of worrying, and the -quicker Nate and I reach the ranch house, the better it -will be.”</p> - -<p>“Dunbar and I might do a little riding and see if we -can’t locate Red Steve, or some of his men,” suggested -Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“No use,” said the scout. “Those scoundrels are on -their way back to the Circle-B ranch by now. We will -leave them alone till some other time. Our trails will -cross again, pard, and when they do——”</p> - -<p>The scout finished with a grim frown and a shrug of -the shoulders.</p> - -<p>“When our trails cross again,” said Wild Bill, “we’ll -remember Ace Hawkins. I’ve marked Red Steve for -my own private kybosh. Take notice, everybody!”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_208">[208]</span></p> - -<p>Perry got up behind Dunbar, and on the way to the -Star-A ranch the events that had led up to the stampede -and the rescue of Perry were recounted for the rancher’s -benefit.</p> - -<p>When the recital was done, Perry was silent for some -time.</p> - -<p>“I wonder,” he finally muttered, “when Nate and I -will reach the end of this hostility? How much longer -will Benner keep up his evil work?”</p> - -<p>“I think you’ve seen the last of it, Perry,” said Wild -Bill. “When he learns how his latest plans have failed, -all around, he’ll probably take a vacation in some other -part of the State and stay there till the last of the trouble -blows over.”</p> - -<p>“And he tried to rob Dunbar of his good name, and me -of my life,” exclaimed Perry, “just to satisfy his desire -for vengeance!”</p> - -<p>“He was hit pretty hard, during that other set-to we -had with him,” said Wild Bill, “and it’s hard for Lige -Benner to forget.”</p> - -<p>“He’s got something else to forget now,” commented -Dunbar grimly.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_209">[209]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">PEACE ON THE BRAZOS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>When the scout, the Laramie man, Nate Dunbar and -Perry rode up to the ranch house, they found Nomad -and Cayuse just about to start off on their horses.</p> - -<p>The girl was in front of the cabin. At sight of her -husband and her father, she ran toward them with a cry -of joy. Nate flung himself from his saddle and clasped -his wife in his arms.</p> - -<p>Hattie did not know how great a reason she had for -rejoicing over the return of Dunbar and Perry. But she -was soon to know.</p> - -<p>“Waugh,” whooped the old trapper. “Ef hyer ain’t -the lot o’ ye. Wouldn’t give us a chance ter ride out an’ -hunt ye up, would ye, Perry? Mrs. Dunbar was erbout -worried ter death, an’ Cayuse an’ me was goin’ on er -hike ter see ef we couldn’t locate ye. Whar’d ye go ter, -last night? An’ Buffler, how’d you come out in Hackamore? -Ye must hev made good, er Nate wouldn’t be -hyar with ye.”</p> - -<p>“Hackamore?” echoed Mrs. Dunbar, withdrawing from -her husband’s arms and turning to her father, “what -happened in Hackamore, dad? This is the first time I’ve -heard that anything was going wrong in town.”</p> - -<p>“Nate will tell you all about it, Hattie,” said Perry. -“Get us something to eat, will you, while he’s doing it? -We’re a lot of hungry men, girl, I can tell you that. I’ll -take your horse, Nate.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_210">[210]</span></p> - -<p>Nomad and Cayuse dropped into line and led their -horses back to the corral with the others.</p> - -<p>The baron was asleep in the hammock. When the meal -was ready Nomad turned the hammock upside down and -informed the sputtering baron that everybody had got -back and that all hands were sitting in at the chuck -table.</p> - -<p>“Vat a habbiness!” cried the baron bursting in on the -scout and the rest just as they were taking their chairs -for a late breakfast. “Vat a fine pitzness dot eferybody -got oudt oof eferyt’ing und dot ve vas all corraled again -mit ourselufs! Nodding much habbened to me dis trip, -aber I don’d mind dot. Der bleasure oof finding you all -togedder, iss more as I can oxbress.”</p> - -<p>“Choke off, pard,” cried old Nomad; “Buffler is erbout -ter tell us what happened in Hackamore, while us fellers -was gyardin’ Mrs. Dunbar an’ the Star-A cabin. Don’t -keep him hangin’ fire.”</p> - -<p>The events that had transpired in Hackamore were -recounted, and Hattie Dunbar flushed, and paled, and -trembled at the peril her husband had so narrowly escaped.</p> - -<p>“We owe a lot to you, Mr. Hickok,” said the girl. -“We’ll never forget what we owe Mr. Hickok, will we, -Nate?”</p> - -<p>“No, Hattie,” answered Nate. “I reckon you, and I, -and Dick can keep track of our obligations.”</p> - -<p>“The sky pilot gets all the credit,” asserted Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>And then, of course, he had to explain how it was -Hawkins’ friendship for Jordan that had brought about -the escape from the adobe house on the hill. To that -escape, and to the knowledge Wild Bill had acquired in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_211">[211]</span> -the adobe house, the rescue of Dunbar from the toils of -the law was due.</p> - -<p>“I hope,” said Hattie tremulously, “that we have -reached the end of Lige Benner’s persecutions. Couldn’t -something be done to him for what he tried to do to -Nate?”</p> - -<p>“I doubt it,” answered Buffalo Bill. “We have a clear -case against both Benners, Lige and Jerry, and this -statement in writing by Abe Isaacs clinches the evidence, -but I don’t believe Lige Benner could be punished by any -court in this part of the country. He is too powerful. I -think, however, that you and your people, Mrs. Dunbar, -will never be troubled any more by the Benners. They -went too far, in this last work, and everybody on the -Brazos will learn of it. Every respectable cattleman -will have nothing but contempt and disgust for the Benners -after this.”</p> - -<p>“We could swing Red Steve for what he’s done, Pard -Cody,” declared Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Providing we could catch him,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“And providing you could prove that he was the man -who shot Hawkins,” added Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“I’m pretty sure Red Steve was one of the White -Caps,” put in Perry, “but I didn’t get a look at his face, -and I couldn’t swear to it.”</p> - -<p>“How about the man who came here and lured you out -into the trail?” queried the scout.</p> - -<p>“I never saw that man before.”</p> - -<p>“They call him Shorty Dobbs over at the Circle-B,” -said the Laramie man.</p> - -<p>“I don’t think Dobbs has been with Benner long,” -spoke up Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“All’s well that ends well, they say,” observed Perry,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_212">[212]</span> -“and I wish some one would tell me for certain that the -present peace on the Brazos will last.”</p> - -<p>“I and my pards will stay around here until we’re sure -there’ll be nothing but peace on the river,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“That makes me feel easier in my mind,” declared -Perry. “With you and your pards for friends and champions, -Buffalo Bill, anything Benner can do won’t worry -me much.”</p> - -<p>“Buffler hes got somethin’ up his sleeve,” said old -Nomad, “an’ I’ll bet a blue stack on it.”</p> - -<p>“Vat it iss, bard?” queried the inquisitive baron.</p> - -<p>“He’s goin’ ter hang eround ther Brazos an’ lay fer Red -Steve. Steve was erbout ther fust ruffian the scout got -acquainted with on the Brazos, an’ I reckon he’s plannin’ -ter make Steve ther last, as well.”</p> - -<p>“Red Steve richly deserves punishment for his misdeeds,” -said the scout. “I couldn’t leave the Brazos -while Red Steve was still at large without feeling I had -failed in my duty.”</p> - -<p>“Same here,” seconded the Laramie man. “But don’t -you forget, Pard Cody, that I’ve marked Red Steve for -my own. He and I are going to come together, before -many days, and then he’ll go to some place where the -law’s doing its regulation work and answer for Ace -Hawkins.”</p> - -<p>“The law’s in full bloom in Hackamore, Hickok,” -laughed the scout.</p> - -<p>“It’s not the sort of Bloom that spells right and justice. -The sheriff in Hackamore is working for the Benners, -if I’m any judge.”</p> - -<p>“Bloom has always been hand-and-glove with Lige Benner,” -said Perry. “And he has never been a friend of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_213">[213]</span> -Nate’s and mine. He was only too willing, I’ll warrant -you, to arrest Nate for taking those diamonds.”</p> - -<p>“Ten to one,” spoke up Wild Bill, “Jerry Benner gave -Bloom his cue before Abe Isaacs made his howl about the -stones being stolen.”</p> - -<p>“Ther hull thing sounds like er frame-up, from start -ter finish,” dropped in old Nomad. “Thet Jerry Benner -must er had a powerful head ter set a thing like thet ter -goin’.”</p> - -<p>“That head of his will get Lige Benner into trouble, -one of these days,” averred Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Oh,” exclaimed Nate Dunbar, pushing back from the -table, “I was forgetting something.”</p> - -<p>His hand went into an inside pocket and he brought -out a little, plush-covered box.</p> - -<p>“I didn’t finish all the business that took me to Hackamore,” -he went on, “but I did manage to wind up the -most important part of it. That’s for you, Hattie.”</p> - -<p>A cry of delight broke from the girl when she saw -the diamond.</p> - -<p>“Whenever I look at this ring, Nate,” she said, slipping -it on her finger and holding it where the sun struck vari-colored -hues from the stone, “I shall always remember -your peril in Hackamore, and the gallant friends who -saved you from the plots of Lige Benner.”</p> - -<p>“Amen to that,” added Dick Perry.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_214">[214]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">RED THUNDERBOLT.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>Buffalo Bill was in earnest when he said that he could -not leave the Brazos while Red Steve was at large, and, -after a day’s rest, the scout set out for Hackamore with -his trapper pard. It was his intention to call on Sheriff -Bloom and learn what, if anything, he knew about -Steve.</p> - -<p>The pards were riding quietly along the trail when -Nomad suddenly drew rein.</p> - -<p>“I’m a Piegan, Buffler,” he howled, “ef it ain’t thet -thar Thunderbolt critter, ther demon o’ ther range, ther -big medicine steer thet kain’t be captured er killed. -Wisht we had er rifle!”</p> - -<p>Thunderbolt was an outcast. In all that cattle country -of the Brazos every man’s hand was against him.</p> - -<p>Bred on the wild <i lang="es" xml:lang="es">llano</i>, he was early compelled to shift -for himself, growing up into a wild and untrammeled -freedom. He rebelled against authority and asked only -to be let alone.</p> - -<p>Grass and water were free. He took his forage wherever -he found it. In the winter he starved more or -less, fighting out the “northers” under the lee of hills, -or in the leafless shelters of the Brazos thickets; but in -the spring and summer he roamed at will, grazing wherever -fancy led him and sniffing the air and watching -keen-eyed for human foes.</p> - -<p>When he was three years old, this maverick fell in -with a bunch of cattle from one of the Brazos ranches.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_215">[215]</span> -He experienced a desire for brute companionship, and -when the cowboys came he was caught in a gully and -hurried in the direction of the branding pen.</p> - -<p>A rope was thrown. Imbued with the strength of a -huge body and the unfettered years, he snapped the rope -in twain, overset a horse and threw a cowboy sprawling. -Then he raced for the great out-doors, bent only on -getting clear of these human foes, with their ropes, and -their fires, and their branding irons.</p> - -<p>Six men on fleet horses took after him. One rider, -his mount fleeter than the others, came near to running -him down. Just as the noose was leaving the pursuer’s -hand, the maverick whirled to an about face and charged.</p> - -<p>A revolver echoed. Its puny report was almost lost -in the immensity of the plain. The bullet bit into the -maverick’s dusty side, ran like fire along his ribs and -filled his heart with madness.</p> - -<p>Like a thunderbolt he collided with horse and rider; -and when he broke away and raced on to his hardly won -freedom, he left a dead cow pony behind him, and a -cowboy with a broken arm.</p> - -<p>From that moment, the maverick was called Red -Thunderbolt throughout the range. War was declared -on him, and cunning traps were devised for his capture.</p> - -<p>But never a trap closed upon Red Thunderbolt. His -brute cunning was more than a match for the cunning -of his foes.</p> - -<p>But the maverick did not come off scatheless in his -various encounters with mounted men. He broke more -ropes than ever went wrong on that range before; and -he broke more saddle cinches and injured more good -saddle leather than natural wear and tear would have accomplished -in half a dozen years.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_216">[216]</span></p> - -<p>Also, he killed a cowboy.</p> - -<p>When goaded into frenzy by the pestering horsemen -with their ropes and guns, Red Thunderbolt pitted his -life against the lives of his enemies. He was playing -the game, and the unfortunate cowboy had yielded to -the fortunes of war.</p> - -<p>From that time on, the nature of the campaign -against Thunderbolt underwent a change. No further -attempts were made to rope the unmanageable maverick, -but all cowboys were armed with rifles and ordered to -shoot him on sight, and to shoot to kill.</p> - -<p>Again and again the longhorn was wounded. His -red hide was scarred with bullet wounds. Nevertheless, -he continued to live and to defy his enemies, and it -seemed that he bore a charmed life.</p> - -<p>Wild tales of what Red Thunderbolt had done and was -capable of doing were noised up and down the Brazos.</p> - -<p>It was gravely declared that he was seen at Portala’s, -on the upper river, at noon of a certain day; and, at two -o’clock in the afternoon of that day, he was also discovered -racing across the range a hundred and fifty miles -to the south of Portala’s.</p> - -<p>From this it was argued that Thunderbolt, whenever -he chose to “let himself out,” had the speed of a lightning -express train.</p> - -<p>The maverick, from accounts, was able to appear in -two widely separated places at the same time.</p> - -<p>His strength was talked of in awed whispers, and took -on an aspect as incredible as his speed.</p> - -<p>It was related that before the killing of Dusenberry, -two cowboys had roped Thunderbolt, and that he had -pulled both men, saddles and all, over their horses’ heads. -Thunderbolt had faded away with the saddles. The<span class="pagenum" id="Page_217">[217]</span> -missing gear had at last been found in a dry wash—with -the ropes neatly coiled and lying over the saddle horns!</p> - -<p>Such wonder tales, aroused by the remarkable prowess -of Thunderbolt, filled every rider of the range with -something akin to panic.</p> - -<p>Cowboys no longer hunted the maverick by ones or in -couples—they rather avoided him, or the haunts where -he was supposed to be, unless they traveled in parties of -three or more.</p> - -<p>For two years Red Thunderbolt kept up the battle, -spreading terror wherever he went and growing wise in -the ways of the cowboy hunters. He was a veteran.</p> - -<p>One day, he was feeding in the Whiplash Hills that -bordered the Brazos. He was close to a trail, and the -wind was in the wrong direction for him to scent the -approach of a man on foot, who came suddenly into -view around the base of an uplift.</p> - -<p>Thunderbolt was less than a hundred feet from the -man. The latter, recognizing the steer, gave a wild -yell, and jerked a revolver from his belt.</p> - -<p>There was nothing the man could climb and get out of -the longhorn’s way, nothing he could get behind.</p> - -<p>The maverick, seeing the glimmering thing rise in the -man’s hand, realized that there was danger. Thunderbolt -had learned that the safest way out of danger was -by charging, not running.</p> - -<p>So his head dropped, he gave a wild bellow, and -started for the man like a red streak.</p> - -<p><em>Crack!</em></p> - -<p>The lead went wide. Another moment and the man -was lifted clear of the ground and thrown a dozen feet, -alighting on the earth with cruel force.</p> - -<p>Red Thunderbolt, from the impetus of his first charge,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_218">[218]</span> -passed on around the base of the hill. It was his intention -to turn and repeat the charge, trampling and horning -the man on the ground as long as he showed any signs -of life.</p> - -<p>But, when the trail beyond the hill’s base opened before -Thunderbolt’s eyes, he saw a sight that gave him -pause.</p> - -<p>Two mounted men were coming toward him at speed—and -they were not the sort of men with whom the -maverick was familiar.</p> - -<p>Their horses were larger than the usual cow pony, -larger and stronger. And the men who backed them -were clad differently than the human enemies whom -Thunderbolt had heretofore encountered. Furthermore, -they were thundering toward him, ropes in their hands, -fiercely determined.</p> - -<p>“Waugh!” howled one of the horsemen. “I’m er -Piegan, Buffler, ef et ain’t thet thar Thunderbolt critter, -ther demon o’ ther range, ther big medicine steer thet -kain’t be captered er killed. Wisht we had er rifle!”</p> - -<p>“That was a man’s shout we heard, Nick!” answered -Buffalo Bill. “We’ll keep Thunderbolt busy while the -man gets away, anyhow. Let’s see what we can do with -our ropes.”</p> - -<p>Again Thunderbolt made up his mind to throw himself -headlong into the threatening danger, escaping the coil -by either killing or crippling his foes.</p> - -<p>“He’s chargin’!” whooped the old trapper. “Look out -fer yerself, pard!”</p> - -<p>The king of scouts needed no urging. He had already -measured his peril.</p> - -<p>Thunderbolt was almost upon him when, with a prick -of the rowels, he whirled Bear Paw aside. The longhorn<span class="pagenum" id="Page_219">[219]</span> -tore on, the tip of one branching horn missing -Bear Paw by no more than an inch.</p> - -<p>Nomad’s rope shot through the air and the noose -dropped on the steer’s head. It seemed as though it must -surely close around the steer’s neck. Thunderbolt, however, -by a flirt of the head, caused the menacing coil to -fall into the trail.</p> - -<p>Old Nomad roared in a strange outburst of disgust -and admiration.</p> - -<p>“Looket thar! Thunder an’ kerry one! Say, Buffler, -did ye see how he got out from under? Tork erbout -yore knowin’ steers, I reckon he heads the percession. -Watch yer eye! He’s game, an’ he’s comin’ at us ag’in.”</p> - -<p>Thunderbolt seemed to have settled on Buffalo Bill as -the one foeman most worthy of his valor. Whirling -around on his hind hoofs, he bellowed and started like -a cyclone for the scout.</p> - -<p>Then Nomad, watching with all his eyes, saw something -he had never seen before.</p> - -<p>The king of scouts, noose in hand, rushed at Thunderbolt. -Both horseman and steer were going head-on -toward each other, and neither seemed to have the least -notion of dodging.</p> - -<p>When they were almost together, Bear Paw, who had -not his equal in all Texas for jumping, went into the air -like a bird suddenly taking wing. He passed clean over -the charging steer, and at the same moment the scout -dropped his own noose.</p> - -<p>The stout hempen coil encircled the steer’s neck. The -scout had barely time to halt Bear Paw and turn and -brace the horse for the shock that followed.</p> - -<p>The impact, when the rope was all payed out, was -terrific. Bear Paw’s hind hoofs were jerked into the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_220">[220]</span> -air. What might have happened, had the rope held, is -problematical. But the rope broke from the saddle and -Red Thunderbolt raced on with the loose end flying.</p> - -<p>“Waal, sufferin, whipperwills!” boomed the old trapper. -“I never seen ye do nothin’ like thet afore, Buffler! -Et was some great, et was so. An’ Thunderbolt -got enough. He’s sizzlin’ erlong to’rds the open, an’ -mighty glad, I opine, ter git erway from sich a jumpin’, -rope-throwin’ pair o’ marvels as you an’ Bear Paw.”</p> - -<p>“He’s got my rope!” yelled the scout. “Let’s follow -him!”</p> - -<p>With that, both riders raced around the foot of the -hill.</p> - -<p>The scout and the trapper were no more than a moment -racing around the foot of the hill; but when the -trail around the turn was before them, there was not a -trace of Red Thunderbolt, and no sign of the man whose -wild shout had first claimed the attention of the pards.</p> - -<p>“Hyar’s a go!” muttered Nomad, pulling Hide-rack to -a halt, and screwing up his face into a puzzled frown. -“Whar’d thet steer hike ter, Buffler?”</p> - -<p>“He’s made a getaway through some gully,” was -the answer. “I reckon there’s no use hunting for him, -pard. A steer as knowing as he is can be trusted to keep -away from us. That was a good rope of mine,” he added -regretfully. “Thunderbolt must have pulled on it -like a locomotive to tear it away from the saddle.”</p> - -<p>“An’ ther ombray thet we heerd a yellin’,” went on -the trapper, “he ain’t eround, nuther. Must be he took -ter his heels as soon as Thunderbolt begun payin’ attention -ter us.”</p> - -<p>“The man was on foot,” said the scout, indicating boot-tracks -in the trail. “I don’t blame him for taking to his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_221">[221]</span> -heels. I’d have done the same, if I’d been in his place. -Still, the fellow might crawl out of his crevice and say -something to us, I should think. If we hadn’t interfered, -the longhorn would have charged him again.”</p> - -<p>“Ther feller shot at ther maverick oncet. I heerd the -bark of er gun.”</p> - -<p>“So did I. But what good is a revolver against Red -Thunderbolt? There’s not enough powder back of a -revolver bullet to get it through the longhorn’s hide. -I’m beginning to understand, now, why Thunderbolt -has made such a big impression on the Brazos cattlemen.”</p> - -<p>“Same hyar.”</p> - -<p>Nomad lifted himself in his stirrups and made a trumpet -of his hands; then he yelled for the missing man -who had faced the steer on foot, and fired the revolver.</p> - -<p>No answer was returned.</p> - -<p>“Don’t bother, Nick,” said the scout. “The fellow -couldn’t have been hurt very much, seeing that he was -able to use his legs and get away. We’ll ride on to -Hackamore.”</p> - -<p>The pards thereupon continued their journey in the -direction of town.</p> - -<p>The coming interview with Bloom was delicate business. -Diplomacy would be necessary—diplomacy, backed -by nerve.</p> - -<p>As peacemaker, however, the scout felt that a truce -must be patched up with Bloom.</p> - -<p>Nate Dunbar was in Hackamore, hiring cowboys and -buying supplies for the ranch. He had gone on this -errand once before, only to be interrupted by a plot of -Benner’s that had well-nigh turned out disastrously.</p> - -<p>“How ye goin’ erbout et ter tork with Bloom?” asked<span class="pagenum" id="Page_222">[222]</span> -Old Nomad, as he and the scout galloped onward, stirrup -to stirrup.</p> - -<p>“We’ve got to handle him with gloves, I reckon,” answered -the scout.</p> - -<p>“He ort ter be handled with the buckskin end of er -quirt,” growled the trapper.</p> - -<p>“That’s right, Nick. But now that Benner has been -properly disciplined, I’m in hopes that Bloom will see -things differently. We can’t leave this part of Texas -until we patch up a peace between Bloom and the ranchers -at the Star-A. There must be peace all up and down -the Brazos when we leave the river.”</p> - -<p>“I’m more of er hand fer distarbin’ ther peace, Buffler, -than fer makin’ et. Thar’s er heap more excitement -in diggin’ up the hatchet than in buryin’ et.”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!” laughed the scout. “Nick, you and I never -went into a job yet without having for our end and aim -the establishment of peace and security. Drastic measures -are sometimes necessary in order to smooth the -kinks out of law and order.”</p> - -<p>“H’m,” muttered Nomad. “I reckon I think too much -o’ ther fightin’ end. In smoothin’ out kinks, I’d ruther -land on ’em with both feet, with a gun in each fist. Rubbin’ -the tangles out with love pats an’ coo-coo words is -some more’n I kin do. Thar’s erbout as much sentiment -in me as thar is in er horn toad. Anyways, this hyar -di-plom-a-cy—is thet what ye call et?—ain’t wuth er -whoop ef it ain’t backed by narve. By ther same token, -what good’s narve ef ye ain’t got a leetle hardware -tucked away up yore sleeve?”</p> - -<p>The scout laughed again.</p> - -<p>“I reckon we’ll have excitement enough to please you -before we’re done with the Brazos,” said he, “but it’s<span class="pagenum" id="Page_223">[223]</span> -only going to be incidental to the main question of -peace.”</p> - -<p>The trapper chuckled, fancying he was catching Buffalo -Bill’s drift.</p> - -<p>“We’ll make peace, Buffler,” he declared, “ef we hev -ter shoot holes in every bloomin’ statute of ther State -o’ Texas!”</p> - -<p>“Not so bad as that. We’re backing up the law, -Nick. Bloom hasn’t been looking after the law as he -was sworn to do.”</p> - -<p>“Nary, he hasn’t. Ef he don’t do his duty, we’ll climb -his neck an’ choke him till he sees et right an’ promises -ter be good. Oh, I dunno. I reckon bein’ peacemaker -kerries plenty o’ blue-fire trimmin’s. I knowed er feller, -up in the Niobrara kentry, called Piegan Charlie. -Charlie went an’ took an’ got married. I was lopin’ past -his wickiup one day, an’ I found him an’ Mrs. Charlie -engaged in er argyment. Charlie was pushin’ Mrs. -Charlie agin’ the side o’ the house, an’ argyin’ with a -broomstick. I got all worked up with er fool desire ter -be one o’ these hyar peacemakers. Thet’s what I did. -So, like er ijut, I drapped off’n my hoss, caught Charlie -by the scruff o’ the neck, an’ throwed him inter a rainwater -bar’l. While I was prancin’ eround an’ yellin’ fer -peace an’ domestic quiet, Mrs. Charlie come up behind -me an’ rapped me over the head with er washboard. -She screeched out thet I hadn’t no bizness meddlin’ with -her husband er distarbin’ ther fambly. When Charlie -got out o’ the bar’l, he begun shootin’ at me. So I loped -on, sadder an’ a heap wiser.”</p> - -<p>By the time the scout had finished enjoying his pard’s -reminiscence, they were in Hackamore.</p> - -<p>There was quite a crowd collected around the front of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_224">[224]</span> -the Delmonico, peering curiously through the open door -of the office and the office windows.</p> - -<p>“Somethin’ goin’ on, an’ I’ll bet er blue stack,” muttered -Nomad.</p> - -<p>“Looks like it,” the scout answered.</p> - -<p>“What’s up, Pinkey?” queried the trapper, as the man -in charge of the corral came to look after their riding -gear.</p> - -<p>“Dunno,” answered Pinkey. “Thar’s so much goin’ -on in this man’s town et’s hard ter keep track o’ all the -doin’s. Mebby a dog fight, er a man fight—thar ain’t -much diff’rence when it comes ter rowdyin’.”</p> - -<p>At this point a lanky individual, who had seen the -pards ride up to the corral, hurried toward the group by -the corral gate.</p> - -<p>“Buffler Bill! Buffler Bill!” the man cried.</p> - -<p>“Et’s Sim Pierce, thet’s who et is,” said Nomad, recognizing -the approaching man. “What’s agitatin’ ye, -Sim?”</p> - -<p>“Row on in the orfice o’ the Delmonico,” panted Sim -Pierce. “Jake Phelps, Hank’s cousin er somethin’, is -rowin’ it with Nate Dunbar. I reckon ye kin stop it, -muy pronto, Buffler Bill. Hustle in an’ stop ’em afore -they git ter drorin’ hardware an’ throwin’ lead.”</p> - -<p>The scout started for the office at a run.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_225">[225]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE QUARREL.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The scout reached the door of the office, only to be -grabbed by one of the men who had been standing there -and looking in, but who had now retired with others to a -safer position.</p> - -<p>“Keep away!” breathed the man. “They’ve got their -shooters out, an’ there’ll be fireworks in a brace o’ shakes. -If you go in there you’ll be right in the middle of the -celebration.”</p> - -<p>“That’s where I want to be,” answered the scout, -shaking the hand from his arm, “and I want to get in -there before the celebration begins.”</p> - -<p>He stepped to the door and looked in.</p> - -<p>Nate Dunbar and Jake Phelps were standing no more -than a dozen feet apart, Phelps with his back to the -counter and Dunbar across the room.</p> - -<p>Furious anger burned in the face of Jake Phelps. In -Dunbar’s face there was only determination—but it was -deadly.</p> - -<p>Each man held a revolver in his right hand, and each -watched like a cat for the first move of the other to -lift his weapon. Only a hair’s breadth separated these -men from rash and ugly work.</p> - -<p>Without a moment’s hesitation, Buffalo Bill sprang -into the room and placed himself squarely between Dunbar -and Jake Phelps.</p> - -<p>“I reckon this has gone far enough,” said he curtly.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_226">[226]</span></p> - -<p>“Buffalo Bill!” exclaimed Dunbar. “Get away, amigo, -and give me my chance at that hound!”</p> - -<p>Dunbar’s voice, husky with pent-up passion, rang surprisingly -in the scout’s ears. He had not much time to -remark upon the depth of the young rancher’s feeling, -however, before his keen eye caught a hostile move of -Jake Phelps’ right hand.</p> - -<p>In the wizardry of six-shooter practice, Buffalo Bill -was second to none. Jake Phelps was perhaps a fraction -of a second in lifting his revolver, yet, in that brief -period of time, the scout had drawn—not only his own -revolver, but also a very effectual “bead.”</p> - -<p>“Down with that hand!” he ordered. “Don’t you dare -say no to me!”</p> - -<p>The compelling voice of the scout, no less than the -bewildering magic that loaded his right hand with a -six-shooter, caused Jack Phelps to gasp. From sheer -amazement he suffered the hand to drop.</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” said the scout, “but see that you keep -that hand where it is. Just remember, Jake Phelps, that -what I miss in the original deal I always make up in the -draw. You’re a friend of mine, Nate?”</p> - -<p>He kept his back to Dunbar and his eyes on Phelps as -he asked the question.</p> - -<p>“Great guns,” cried the young rancher, “don’t I owe -you about everything I’ve got in the world?”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t put it so strong as that, Nate,” said the -scout, with a quiet laugh. “If you’re my friend, though, -you’ll put up your gun. I’ll guarantee that Jake Phelps -doesn’t take any advantage of you.”</p> - -<p>“But you don’t understand——”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to understand all about this before I get<span class="pagenum" id="Page_227">[227]</span> -through. In the meantime, you’ll please understand that -I have requested you to put up your revolver.”</p> - -<p>“She’s up,” said Dunbar promptly.</p> - -<p>“Buenos! Now, Nate, kindly talk at the back of my -head and tell me the cause of this flare-up.”</p> - -<p>Old Nomad was standing in the door, leaning negligently -against the door casing and fanning himself with -his hat. Pard Buffler was “on the job,” and the trapper -realized that there wasn’t any cause for any one to worry. -But that peacemaker racket, while all right in its way, -wasn’t making much of a hit with Nomad.</p> - -<p>“I was sitting here minding my own business,” said -Dunbar, “when Jake Phelps came in. He began saying -things to r’ile me. His palaver wasn’t thrown at me, -but was fired at the clerk. I allowed him to talk about -me as much as he pleased, but when he turned his dirty -tongue loose on Dick Perry, then on you, and, at the last, -dragged in the name of my wife, my patience had -reached the limit. He’s a low-down whelp!”</p> - -<p>“What did he say about me?” inquired the scout.</p> - -<p>“He said you were a meddler in other men’s affairs -and——”</p> - -<p>“Which was the truth, in a way.”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t so much what he said about you as the -way he said it.”</p> - -<p>In the West there are some things a man has to say -with a smile—if he would avoid gun play.</p> - -<p>“Anything else, Nate?” asked the scout.</p> - -<p>“Well, he remarked that Dick Perry was a blackguard -an——”</p> - -<p>“Waugh!” came from the door. “Did he refer ter me -with any o’ his fool talk, Nate?”</p> - -<p>“No.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_228">[228]</span></p> - -<p>“I’m relieved a hull lot,” grinned the trapper. “Ef -he’d er called me a goat, er somethin’ like thet, I mout -hev shot him up.”</p> - -<p>“Got anything to tell us, Jake?” asked the scout.</p> - -<p>“Well, yes,” answered Jake; “you fellers over at the -Star-A ranch are a lot of measley tin horns. You can -put up a good front, but your work is all rhinecaboo. -I rode into town after the H-P pay-roll, and strolled in -here to stuff the coin into my saddlebags. I saw Dunbar. -What I said, I said so as to show this town he ain’t half -a man.” Jake Phelps laughed, and looked around in a -cheap attempt at bravado. “He dassen’t fight. Everybody -can see that.”</p> - -<p>“Anybody can see with half an eye that Nate Dunbar -has you beat a mile in everything that makes a man a -man. You’re nine-tenths pure guff, Jake, and the other -tenth is just plain dog.”</p> - -<p>The scout put up his revolver. Phelps was still armed, -but the scout looked him squarely in the eye and he made -no attempt to use his weapon.</p> - -<p>“You’ve got your pay-roll money, have you?” went -on Buffalo Bill.</p> - -<p>“What business is that of——”</p> - -<p>“That’s going far enough. I’ll give you five minutes -to get out of town.”</p> - -<p>“Ho!” glowered Jake. “You the boss of this town? -You got <ins class="corr" id="tn228" title="Transcriber’s Note—“more ter say about things in Haokamore” changed to “more ter say about things in Hackamore”.">more ter say about things in Hackamore</ins> -than the sheriff?”</p> - -<p>“Never mind that. If you’re not out of town in five -minutes, I’ll go gunning for you myself.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll take a shot at that meachin’ whelp behind you -yet!” gritted Jake. “He can’t make any dead-set at me -without getting all that’s coming. I’ll have his scalp,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_229">[229]</span> -that’s what I’ll have. I’m going to make a widder of -Mrs. Dunbar, and then Lige Benner——”</p> - -<p>The scout jumped at Phelps, grabbed him by the shoulders, -and flung him bodily toward the door. Old Nomad -stepped aside and helped him out of the room with a -kick. The clerk, who had been on hands and knees behind -the counter, carried out Phelps’ saddlebags and -threw them after him.</p> - -<p>From the hitching pole, where his horse was tied, Jake -Phelps swore and howled his threats.</p> - -<p>“I’ll square up with you for all this, my buck!” -shouted Nate Dunbar, from a window.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to get Buffalo Bill’s permission to call -your soul your own before you do,” taunted Jake, tying -the bags to the saddle, mounting, and spurring away.</p> - -<p>Dunbar turned to the scout with a gloomy face.</p> - -<p>“Amigo,” said he, “it would have been better if you’d -let me had it out with that skunk.”</p> - -<p>“There was nothing to the row, Nate,” the scout answered. -“Phelps has had too much red eye, and you lost -your temper too easily. Have you finished your work -here?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’d better ride for the Star-A ranch, Nate. -And don’t forget yourself and take the trail to the -Phelps outfit.”</p> - -<p>“You know me too well for that,” answered the young -rancher. “When I say I’ll do a thing don’t I generally -do it?”</p> - -<p>“You do,” returned the scout gravely, “and that’s what -makes Nate Dunbar stack up so high with me. You’ll -leave Jake Phelps alone?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_230">[230]</span></p> - -<p>“Thet’s ther tork, pard,” approved old Nomad. “Even -a measley, no-’count yaller pup like Jake Phelps kin -shoot. It would be tough on that Hattie girl if you was -wiped out. Go home, Nate, an’ tell ’em out thar ter the -ranch thet Buffler an’ Pard Nomad hev struck town and -aire already at their peacemakin’.”</p> - -<p>Nate pricked up his ears.</p> - -<p>“I was wondering why you were here,” said he.</p> - -<p>“We’ve come to see Bloom, the sheriff.”</p> - -<p>“Bloom’s travelin’ this-a-way as fast as his legs kin -kerry him,” spoke up Nomad, taking a squint through -the door and up the street.</p> - -<p>“Then here’s where I pull out,” said Nate. “There’s -no love lost between Bloom and me, and if I met him -now and he gave me any of his back talk, the fur would -fly. Be back to the ranch soon, Buffalo Bill?”</p> - -<p>“To-morrow, I hope.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar left the hotel by a rear door. Old Nomad, -with a queer grin on his weather-beaten face, pushed -into the office and dropped on a chair.</p> - -<p>“Now fer more peacemakin’,” he remarked, “an’ from -ther looks o’ ther sher’ff, I reckon et’ll be real saloobrious. -I’m fixin’ ter enjoy what’s comin’, I am so.”</p> - -<p>“There’ll be no trouble,” said the scout, himself taking -a seat.</p> - -<p>“Waal, ef thar is, I shore reckon they’ll hev ter git -another sher’ff ter bloom in this man’s berg.”</p> - -<p>A moment later the sheriff rushed into the room. He -was at white heat, and the looks he threw at the scout -and the trapper were anything but reassuring.</p> - -<p>The crowd outside once more clustered about the open -door and the windows. There was to be something more<span class="pagenum" id="Page_231">[231]</span> -doing, and each spectator held his breath and watched -and listened.</p> - -<p>“Somebody said there was a row here,” growled -Bloom. “I heard up the street that Jake Phelps an’ that -pesky trouble maker, Nate Dunbar, was roughin’ it with -each other.”</p> - -<p>The sheriff was addressing himself to the hotel clerk, -but Buffalo Bill took it upon himself to answer.</p> - -<p>“They didn’t get so far as an exchange of shots, -sheriff. I happened in, just as the affair began to look -serious, and ordered Jake Phelps out of town.”</p> - -<p>Bloom had whirled away on his heel as soon as the -scout began to speak; then, suddenly changing his mind, -he whirled back when he had finished.</p> - -<p>“You ordered him out o’ town?” he scowled.</p> - -<p>“Oh, yes,” answered the scout passively. “If they had -both stayed in town there would have been trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Tell me this, you who make yourself so high and -mighty wherever you happen to plant yourself: What -business you got orderin’ anybody out o’ Hackamore?”</p> - -<p>A glimmer arose in the scout’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“Well,” said he, “if you come to simmer it down to a -fine point, I was doing business that you ought to have -been around here to attend to.”</p> - -<p>“You my deperty?” flared Bloom; “have I ever asked -you to help me?”</p> - -<p>“No, Bloom; I sort of asked myself.”</p> - -<p>“You take my advice, Cody, and keep hands off my -work. You and I have come together once, and if that -ever happens again, sparks are sure goin’ to fly.”</p> - -<p>There was only the clerk in the office, apart from the -scout, the trapper, and the sheriff. The spectators kept<span class="pagenum" id="Page_232">[232]</span> -outside, confining their view of what was going on to the -open door and the windows.</p> - -<p>“Right here, then,” said Buffalo Bill, “is where the -sparks begin to fly.” He turned to the trapper. “As it -may get rather hot for some of the people outside, Nick,” -he added, “you’d better close the door.”</p> - -<p>“On ther jump, pard,” carolled Nomad.</p> - -<p>The trend of affairs was vastly to his liking.</p> - -<p>“Leave that door open!” snarled the sheriff.</p> - -<p>Nomad’s answer was to slam the door, turn around, -and put his back to it.</p> - -<p>“How does thet hit ye?” he asked truculently.</p> - -<p>“There’s more’n one door,” grunted the sheriff, moving -toward the dining-room entrance.</p> - -<p>The scout got up and barred the way in that direction. -For an instant the sheriff glared, one hand half starting -toward his hip.</p> - -<p>“I have only the most peaceable intentions, Bloom,” -said the scout, as pleasantly as possible. “There’s a little -matter I want to talk over with you.”</p> - -<p>“There ain’t any matter, little or big, that I want to -talk over with you,” snapped Bloom.</p> - -<p>“This has to do with your business. From what you’ve -just been saying, you’re mighty particular to attend to -your own business, seems to me.”</p> - -<p>The sheriff grunted and swept his eyes toward the -two windows. In each opening were framed as many -excited faces as could crowd into it. Bloom felt that the -eyes of the town were upon him, that his prestige would -suffer if he did not in some way stir himself.</p> - -<p>“Sit down,” proceeded the scout; “have a cigar and -we’ll smoke a talk.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_233">[233]</span></p> - -<p>There was a friendly smile on Buffalo Bill’s face as -he held out a weed.</p> - -<p>With a muttered oath the sheriff grabbed the cigar, -crushed it in his thick fingers, and flung it in the scout’s -face. A gasp came from the faces in the windows.</p> - -<p>“Snarlin’ catermounts!” fumed the trapper. “Ef ye -don’t make him eat thet cigyar ye ain’t no friend o’ -mine.”</p> - -<p>The scout was still smiling.</p> - -<p>“Sit down, Bloom.”</p> - -<p>The voice was as soft as velvet, but it cut like steel.</p> - -<p>The sheriff invited the scout to go to a warmer region -than the Brazos, and started to brush by in the direction -of the rear door.</p> - -<p>Then something happened. It happened with a suddenness -that deceived the eye.</p> - -<p>One moment Bloom was pushing for the rear door, -and the next he was sprawled in a chair, and the scout -had the revolver that had been dangling from his belt.</p> - -<p>A titter came from the windows, and a whoop from -old Nomad.</p> - -<p>“Et ain’t well ter fool with We, Us an’ Comp’ny when -we’re loaded,” exulted the trapper, “er when we’re out -spreadin’ harmony an’ good will up an’ down ther -Brazos.”</p> - -<p>The sheriff’s face was as black as a thundercloud. He -realized fully the ignominy of his position—and, quite as -fully, his own helplessness.</p> - -<p>“More of your high-handed proceedings,” he ground -out. “Some day you’ll get jumped on good and proper -for your meddlin’, and after that you’ll ’tend to your -own business an’ let other folks’ business alone.”</p> - -<p>“Some day,” said the scout, “but not to-day. Try and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_234">[234]</span> -be a gentleman, Bloom. I reckon it’ll be hard for you, -but, anyhow, make the effort.”</p> - -<p>The sheriff was beside himself with anger; in fact, he -was so wrought up that words failed him. He gurgled -and glared. Old Nomad stood at the door surveying -the sheriff with great satisfaction.</p> - -<p>“Ther further we go on this hyar peacemakin’ tour, -Buffler,” he remarked, “ther better I like et.”</p> - -<p>“Bloom,” pursued the scout, “a little history has been -made during the last few days, and one detail of it I am -going to offer for your attention. A man by the name -of Ace Hawkins was shot and killed by a fellow calling -himself Red Steve.”</p> - -<p>“You can’t tell me a thing I don’t know,” snorted the -sheriff. “Ace Hawkins was a desperado—he deserved all -he got, no matter who gave it to him.”</p> - -<p>“Wrong, in two ways. Hawkins was not a desperado. -He was a man who was doing his best to further the -cause of right and justice. Error number one for you. -Whether or not he deserved the fate that overtook him, -however, need command little of our attention. It was -not Red Steve’s place to hand out his destiny with the -point of a six-shooter. What have you done to apprehend -Red Steve?”</p> - -<p>“Nothin’, and I won’t do anythin’.”</p> - -<p>“Why not? Aren’t you sworn to look after the law -in this county?”</p> - -<p>“It ain’t part o’ my duty to take advice from you.”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to tell you a few things, Bloom. Red -Steve works for Lige Benner, and you’ve a notion that -Lige Benner wanted Ace Hawkins sponged off the slate. -You’re a friend of Benner’s. You think it will please -Benner if you don’t take any action against Red Steve.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_235">[235]</span> -Probably you’re right in your surmise, but you’re ’way -wrong in letting yourself be swayed by your likes and -dislikes in a matter that touches upon your duty as -sheriff. You’d better take my advice and help me and -my pards lay Red Steve by the heels.”</p> - -<p>This was straight talk, and as logical as it was straight. -Bloom knew the scout had the right end of the argument, -and he hated to have the men outside hear him -lectured in just that way. The scout had purposely -raised his voice and spoken deliberately and clearly, in -order that his words might carry, and his full meaning -reach the ears of the townspeople.</p> - -<p>“Confound you and your advice!” barked Bloom. “I -know what my duty is a heap better’n you, and I’m here -to stand by it.”</p> - -<p>“Will you stand by your duty, in this case,” fenced -the scout, “or will you stand by Lige Benner and Red -Steve?”</p> - -<p>“I ain’t goin’ to tell you what I’ll do. What’s more, -I’ve got enough o’ this talk.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’re going to get more than enough, Bloom, -because I’m not more than half done. In shielding Red -Steve you’re trying to shield Lige Benner. You’re afraid -that if you press matters against Red Steve that it will -be shown that Lige Benner had at least a guilty knowledge -of Red Steve’s murderous intentions against Hawkins. -Isn’t that it?”</p> - -<p>Steadily, relentlessly, the sheriff was being forced into -a tight corner. It was like a trial. Bloom, accused of -dereliction of duty, was being catechised by the scout, -and the townspeople outside were the jury. Between -duty and private desire the unfortunate sheriff writhed -and sputtered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_236">[236]</span></p> - -<p>“I’m not going to take any more talk from you,” he -shouted. “There’s a hull lot to this Red Steve matter -you don’t know anything about.”</p> - -<p>“I know all about it,” declared the scout, “much more, -in fact, than you do.”</p> - -<p>“How do you know Red Steve did that shooting?”</p> - -<p>“Ace Hawkins said so.”</p> - -<p>“That’s what you say,” sneered the sheriff.</p> - -<p>“There are others who heard Hawkins make his statement, -and they will bear me out. Wild Bill Hickok, -for one——”</p> - -<p>“He’s your pard. I wouldn’t believe him any quicker’n -I’d believe you.”</p> - -<p>Old Nomad’s gorge was rising. The sheriff was a -coyote, and Buffalo Bill was putting up with too much -from him. He made an attempt to slip in a few words, -but the scout looked toward him and waved him to -silence.</p> - -<p>“There’s the sky pilot, Jordan,” went on the scout. -“He’ll back up my statement. I reckon there’s not a -man on the Brazos who would refuse to believe the sky -pilot.”</p> - -<p>This statement rather floored the sheriff.</p> - -<p>“When the sky pilot talks to me,” said he, “then I’ll -know what to think, but——”</p> - -<p>Just here the door opened at old Nomad’s back. He -turned quickly to deny the newcomer entrance, but recoiled -when he saw who was coming into the office.</p> - -<p>“Benner!” exclaimed old Nomad, wondering what this -new move was to signify.</p> - -<p>“Benner!” cried Bloom, jumping to his feet.</p> - -<p>Benner pushed on into the room and came to a halt -within a short distance of the scout.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_237">[237]</span></p> - -<p>“Yes, Benner,” said the cattle baron. “I’ve come -here to say that Buffalo Bill is right. Red Steve was -the man who did the trick for Ace Hawkins. Is that -enough for you, Bloom?”</p> - -<p>The scout was surprised by this totally unexpected -coming of Lige Benner—surprised, perhaps, far more by -his appearance and his words than by the mere fact of -his presence.</p> - -<p>There was a haggard, careworn look in Benner’s face—an -earnestness in his manner that contrasted strongly -with his spectacular attire.</p> - -<p>If the scout was surprised by Benner’s words, the -sheriff seemed even more so. He stared.</p> - -<p>“Come again with that, Benner,” said he.</p> - -<p>“I’ve been standing outside listening to what was going -on in here,” continued Benner. “The time came -when I thought I ought to take part in the talk. Red -Steve is guilty of shooting Ace Hawkins. I had nothing -to do with the crime, and knew nothing about it until -it was accomplished. Both men worked for me. Red -Steve himself told me he was guilty, and tried to find -excuse for what he had done by saying that Ace Hawkins -was a traitor, that he was working for me and -trying to help Perry and Dunbar. That, of course, was -no excuse at all. I told him he would have to come to -Hackamore and stand trial. It was my intention to -bring him myself, but he escaped on foot from the -ranch and, at the present moment, is somewhere on the -Brazos, a fugitive. I rode to town to get you to take up -the pursuit of Red Steve. It’s up to you, Bloom.”</p> - -<p>Lige Benner dropped wearily into a chair and drew -one hand across his forehead. Bloom continued to stare -at him, Nomad regarded him with suspicion, and only<span class="pagenum" id="Page_238">[238]</span> -the scout—adept at reading motives in a man’s face—gave -him approval.</p> - -<p>“That’s the talk, Benner!” the scout exclaimed.</p> - -<p>“Don’t ye bank too much on his tork, Buffler,” put in -the old trapper. “Lige Benner is tricky; he’s showed -himself ter be a snake in the grass right along; an’ how -d’ye know he ain’t got somethin’ up his sleeve right -now? Don’t give him a chance ter trap ye.”</p> - -<p>Benner flung himself around in his chair, but the fierce -protest faded from his face as he looked at Nomad.</p> - -<p>“I’ve made mistakes, I reckon,” said Benner slowly, -“a lot of ’em, but I’m not making any mistake now, old -Nomad, and don’t you make any. I’m tired of this -squabbling in the cattle country. I’ll admit I never liked -Perry or Dunbar. They blew in here and spoiled one -of the objects I had set my heart on achieving. I did -everything I could to carry out that object, but the scout -and his pards made that impossible; then, listening to -advisers, I set out to secure revenge. There I failed -again. My hands are in the air. Now I want Red -Steve captured, so it can be proved that I had nothing -to do with what happened to Ace Hawkins.”</p> - -<p>“If he’s captured,” returned the scout, “are you willing -to cry quits in this fight on Perry and Dunbar? -Will you be for peace in the cattle country, Benner?”</p> - -<p>“I’m for peace now,” was the reply; “if I hadn’t been -I shouldn’t have come here as I did to-day.”</p> - -<p>“I believe you,” said the scout quietly. “Have you -any idea where Red Steve can be found, or what he intends -to do?”</p> - -<p>“If he is hunted for at once, he’ll be found somewhere -on the Brazos. He got away, as I said, on foot. -Since he has no horse, about the first move he makes<span class="pagenum" id="Page_239">[239]</span> -will be to get a mount somewhere. After he does that -it will be hard to capture him. He knows this country -like a book, and he’ll hole himself away where he’ll never -be found.”</p> - -<p>“My pards are looking for Red Steve on the river,” -proceeded the scout. “If he’s there, you can gamble that -they’ll find him.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve sent out some of my cowboys to prosecute the -search. Between them and your pards, Buffalo Bill, the -chances seem pretty fair for taking the scoundrel. You -understand my attitude? There may be a suspicion that -I was back of Red Steve in the shooting of Ace Hawkins. -I want that suspicion brushed aside and my entire -innocence made clear. Red Steve is the one to do this. -Whatever else I have done, I’ve never tried to get any -man’s blood on my hands. I’ve gone far in this war -with Perry and Dunbar, but never so far as that.”</p> - -<p>A sneer curled Bloom’s lip as he gazed at Benner.</p> - -<p>“Lost your nerve, have you?” he rasped.</p> - -<p>Benner lifted his eyes to Bloom’s.</p> - -<p>“You’ll find,” said he, “that I have plenty of nerve -to avenge any insult you heave at me. Walk softly, -Bloom, when you’re going over my feet. That’s my -advice to you. So far as Dunbar and Perry are concerned. -I’ve buried the hatchet; but, so far as you are -concerned, I’ll dig it up if you give me half a chance. -Spread your blankets and go to sleep on that.”</p> - -<p>Benner’s spirit was not broken. There was plenty of -snap and ginger in his words. It was clear to the scout -that the cattle baron was swerved by only one motive, -and that was to have Red Steve captured, so that the -owner of the Circle-B ranch would be cleared of the -taking off of Ace Hawkins.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_240">[240]</span></p> - -<p>The capture of Red Steve, therefore, had become a -factor in the business Buffalo Bill was so anxious to -accomplish—the peace of the Brazos country.</p> - -<p>“I’m mighty glad,” scowled Bloom, in no wise relishing -the manner of the cattle baron, “that Hank Phelps -is still got the nerve to hold his grudge against Perry -and Dunbar.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t be too sure of that,” said Benner. “Phelps -is a friend of mine, and I’m going to see him to-morrow. -I think he’ll promise to coöperate with me in establishing -peace on the Brazos. He’s about as tired of these -foolish squabbles as I am.”</p> - -<p>He got up and moved toward the door.</p> - -<p>“We’re on good terms now, Buffalo Bill?” he asked, -halting at the threshold.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” answered the scout.</p> - -<p>“Well, I’ve gone on record. All these men”—he -waved his hand toward the faces in the windows—“are -witnesses. From now on, Perry and Dunbar will receive -from me the same treatment other ranchers on the -river give each other. That shot goes as it lays.”</p> - -<p>He left the hotel, and could be seen making his way -through the crowd in front.</p> - -<p>“Gi’me that gun!” snapped Bloom, stretching out his -hand to the scout.</p> - -<p>The weapon was handed over without comment. Then -Bloom himself started for the door.</p> - -<p>“Has he got the right ter leave, Buffler?” asked -Nomad.</p> - -<p>The scout nodded. The trapper stepped aside, and -Bloom flung out of the office. Nomad came over and -dropped down in a chair beside the scout.</p> - -<p>“Waugh!” he muttered. “Blamed ef we didn’t git<span class="pagenum" id="Page_241">[241]</span> -out o’ thet without er fight. I never thort we would, -one spell. But I ain’t takin’ none too much stock in this -hyar flop o’ Benner’s. Et’s too suddent.”</p> - -<p>“Benner’s all right, Nick,” averred Buffalo Bill, with -confidence.</p> - -<p>“Shore he ain’t figgerin’ on somethin’?”</p> - -<p>“I’m sure he is figuring on something. The shooting -of Ace Hawkins might have far-reaching results for -him; so he wants Red Steve captured, so he can be forced -to tell the truth.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ twisters! Why, Benner hired Red Steve in -the fust place bekase he was a desperado, an’ willin’ ter -do any leetle job a honest cowpuncher might shy around. -Now thet Red Steve’s done jest what Benner mout hev -knowed he’d do, Benner gits what looks like an attack -o’ narves. I kain’t b’leeve in et, not complete.”</p> - -<p>“I never thought Benner was so desperate as some -folks tried to make out,” Buffalo Bill answered. “He -has his good points, Nick.”</p> - -<p>“Up ter now,” said Nomad dryly, “he’s been purty successful -keepin’ his good p’ints buried out o’ sight. But -I’m s’prised at one thing.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Why, Bloom an’ Benner ain’t the team I thort they -was. They ain’t pullin’ tergether like they was well -matched.”</p> - -<p>“It looks as though we’d been a little wide of our -trail, old pard,” said the scout. “We’ve been thinking, -all along, that Bloom, by his ugly actions, was trying to -keep on the right side of Lige Benner. I think, come -to sift the reasons close to bed rock, that Bloom is in -the game against Perry and Dunbar just because he -hates the Star-A ranchers. He’s taken a dislike to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_242">[242]</span> -them—to Nate in particular—and that’s why he acts as -he does.”</p> - -<p>“Mebbyso. He’s ’er whelp. He’d do a heap ter land -on Nate somehow. I’m bettin’——”</p> - -<p>A pounding of hoofs out in front, suddenly brought -to a stop, a concerted rush of the men around the hotel -toward the hitching pole, and a wild voice suddenly -lifted, caused the old trapper to break off his remarks. -The voice, husky with excitement, floated into the office -through the open front door.</p> - -<p>“Where’s a doctor? I want a doctor on the jump!”</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill and old Nomad, at this startling summons, -left their chairs and went to the door.</p> - -<p>A cowboy, his horse lathered and panting painfully, -was at a halt before the hotel. A crowd of curious men -surrounded him.</p> - -<p>“I’ll go fer a doctor,” said Sim Pierce, and hustled -off without waiting for further news.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter?” asked the scout.</p> - -<p>“I was lopin’ inter town with a pard,” replied the -cowboy, “when we found Jake Phelps’ hoss, without no -saddle, runnin’ to’rds ther ranch. A mile farder we -found Jake hisself, layin’ face down in the trail. He -come in arter the pay-rool money, an’ the money was -gone. Jake was about gone, too, an’ he may be clean -gone by now. I left Jeems with him, while I hit the -breeze fer a sawbones. We gotter have the doc in er -hurry, an’ mebby it won’t do no good at that.”</p> - -<p>This news hit the scout between the eyes. Already -the bystanders were exchanging significant glances.</p> - -<p>The scout grabbed Nomad’s arm and pulled him back -into the office.</p> - -<p>“This looks bad, pard,” he whispered.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_243">[243]</span></p> - -<p>“Ye don’t think Nate had anythin’ ter do with what -happened ter Jake Phelps?” gasped the old trapper.</p> - -<p>“Certainly not, but there are others who’ll think so—after -what happened between Nate and Jake Phelps here -in Hackamore. Take my word for it, Bloom will be the -first one to voice the suspicion.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_244">[244]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXV">CHAPTER XXV.<br /> -<span class="fs70">SIM PIERCE BRINGS NEWS.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The cowboy jumped from his weary horse, loosened -the cinches to give the animal’s lungs greater freedom, -and came into the office to wait for the doctor.</p> - -<p>The cowboy was excited, and tramped up and down, -rolling a cigarette.</p> - -<p>“You’re from Hank Phelps’ ranch?” asked the scout.</p> - -<p>“That’s me,” was the answer. “My name’s Quiller, -an’ I’ve worked fer Hank for two years. He’s all right, -Hank is.”</p> - -<p>“How was Jake Phelps hurt?”</p> - -<p>“Looks like he’d been hit on the head with a club er -somethin’.”</p> - -<p>“Then he wasn’t shot?”</p> - -<p>“Not as Jeems an’ me could see. But I didn’t tarry -long arter we found Jake; I jest hustled right in arter -the doc. There was some queer things about Jake’s fix. -The feller that swiped the pay-roll money took Jake’s -saddle along. What’s this I hear about Jake’s havin’ a -row with Nate Dunbar afore leavin’ fer home?”</p> - -<p>“They had some words, Quiller,” answered the scout.</p> - -<p>“I’m wonderin’—I’m wonderin’——”</p> - -<p>Quiller was leaning against the counter, holding a -lighted match to his cigarette.</p> - -<p>“You’re wondering,” spoke up the scout, “whether -Nate Dunbar had anything to do with what happened to -Jake Phelps. Well, stop your wondering. He didn’t.”</p> - -<p>“But the’ was bad blood between ’em, wasn’t they?”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_245">[245]</span> -went on the cowboy, wrinkling his brows. “When they -separated didn’t they both say they’d git even with each -other? An’ didn’t Dunbar hit the trail right arter Jake -did?”</p> - -<p>“All that happened, yes. But that doesn’t prove anything -against Nate. I’m rather thinking that it makes -the future dark for Red Steve.”</p> - -<p>Old Nomad jumped at that; and Quiller, the match -going out without lighting his cigarette, flung away the -burnt firestick and groped in his pocket for another.</p> - -<p>“What about Red Steve?” demanded Quiller.</p> - -<p>“He’s loose in the Brazos country,” answered the -scout. “Benner was going to bring him to Hackamore -for the shooting of Ace Hawkins, but Red Steve slipped -away from the Circle-B ranch on foot.”</p> - -<p>“On foot, hey? Then why didn’t Red Steve, if he done -this, take Jake’s hoss? Red Steve wouldn’t never hev -let the hoss git away from him arter he had nabbed the -money.”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps Red Steve had a horse already,” suggested -the scout. “It’s possible he picked up a horse without -any gear, and that he took the saddle to ride in.”</p> - -<p>“It’s possible, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>But it was plain that Quiller’s mind was running on -Nate Dunbar. Circumstances seemed to point more decisively -in the direction of the Star-A rancher than toward -Red Steve.</p> - -<p>“The man who took the money,” pursued the scout, -noting the trend of the cowboy’s thoughts, “was the man -who look the saddle. Nate Dunbar’s not a thief.”</p> - -<p>“It’s hard ter tell what a man is when he makes a -play o’ this kind.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_246">[246]</span></p> - -<p>“And certainly Nate wouldn’t take the saddle. Why -should he? He had a good saddle of his own.”</p> - -<p>This fact seemed to make some impression on Quiller. -Before he could express himself, however, the doctor -came riding up in front. With the doctor was Bloom -and Sim Pierce, both ready for the trail.</p> - -<p>“Come on, you there!” roared Bloom.</p> - -<p>Quiller ran out, tightened his cinches, swung into the -saddle, and the four riders fared out of town at a gallop.</p> - -<p>“See how it is, Nick?” queried the scout. “Already -suspicion is leveled at Nate Dunbar. You can gamble -that Bloom will do everything possible to make it bad for -the boy. I reckon we had also better be getting saddle -leather between our knees.”</p> - -<p>“Ter go whar, Buffler?”</p> - -<p>“Why, to the H-P ranch. I want to watch this thing -and find out just what develops. We must keep in -touch with every detail. It’s liable to mean a whole lot -for Nate.”</p> - -<p>“Waugh! Ye’re shore right thar. But et’s Red Steve -as turned ther trick, ye kin take et from me. When’ll -we ride?”</p> - -<p>“Now.”</p> - -<p>“Whoop! When ye tune up like thet, ye shore ketch -me plumb whar I live. Spurs an’ quirts an’ a call on -Hank Phelps. This hyar peace bizness is gittin’ some -excitin’.”</p> - -<p>Pinkney brought out their saddles and bridles. Bear -Paw and old Hide-rack seemed surprised at the sudden -getaway. Probably, in their brute minds, they had been -expecting an all-night stay in the comfortable corral.</p> - -<p>“It beats the nation,” remarked the scout, when he<span class="pagenum" id="Page_247">[247]</span> -and his old pard were galloping along the trail, “what -beastly luck comes Nate Dunbar’s way.”</p> - -<p>“Some fellers,” commented old Nomad, “tumbles inter -bad luck jest as nacherly as some others tumbles inter -good. Nate’s shore gittin’ his share o’ misfortun’s hyar -on ther Brazos.”</p> - -<p>“And to have this happen,” frowned the scout, “just -when we were having such good success as peace commissioners!”</p> - -<p>“Ain’t thet allers ther way?” answered the trapper. -“Did we ever start out ter do a sartin thing thet some -other thing didn’t butt in on us? Thet sorter bizness -comes so frequent, Buffler, et ort ter be expected. But, -say!”</p> - -<p>“Well?”</p> - -<p>“Sarcumstances does look mighty bad for Nate, huh?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Ef Red Steve hes got er hoss, an’ er saddle, an’ a -wad o’ dinero, he won’t hang eround ther Brazos. He’ll -git ter whar he kain’t be found. Then, ef he does thet, -how aire we goin’ ter prove it was him, an’ not Nate, -as done ther trick fer Jake Phelps?”</p> - -<p>“It’s a hard proposition we’re facing,” said the scout -gloomily. “But Nate may be able to prove an alibi.”</p> - -<p>“How?”</p> - -<p>“Oh, in a dozen ways. Suppose he met some one -riding his way? That man might give information that -would clear Nate. We’ve got Nate’s side of this to hear -yet. Just now, it looks as though he and Lige Benner -would have to work shoulder to shoulder.”</p> - -<p>“Fer why?”</p> - -<p>“Why, because Benner will be suspected of complicity -in what happened to Ace Hawkins, same as Nate will<span class="pagenum" id="Page_248">[248]</span> -be suspected in the matter of Jake Phelps. The capture -of Red Steve will help out both of them.”</p> - -<p>“Thet’s so. A good head is a heap better fer a feller, -any time, than a pair of guns. Let’s don’t fergit thet -Pard Hickok is camped on Red Steve’s trail. Mebby -Hickok hes got hands on Red Steve by this time.”</p> - -<p>“I’m hoping he has had some success.” The scout -pointed to a rapidly approaching cloud of dust in advance -of him and Nomad. “Some one coming this way,” -said he.</p> - -<p>As the rider approached, and the faint wind whipped -the dust aside, the pards made out that it was Sim -Pierce.</p> - -<p>“Sim’s in somethin’ of er hurry,” muttered Nomad. -“What d’ye reckon he’s got on his mind?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll know in a few moments,” answered the scout -grimly.</p> - -<p>As Sim Pierce’s horse came nose to nose with Bear -Paw and Hide-rack, Sim drew to a halt.</p> - -<p>“This here’s luck an’ no mistake!” exclaimed Sim.</p> - -<p>“What’s the matter, Pierce?”</p> - -<p>“I was pikin’ fer Hackamore ter find ye, Buffler Bill. -Findin’ ye on the trail this-a-way saves considerable -time.”</p> - -<p>“What have you to tell me?”</p> - -<p>“A hull lot. I don’t know principally whar ter begin.”</p> - -<p>“How about Jake?”</p> - -<p>“He’s in bad shape, but he ain’t cashed in. They’re -took him on ter the ranch.”</p> - -<p>“What does the doctor think?”</p> - -<p>“He dunno what ter think. Mebby Jake’ll pull -through, an’ mebby he won’t. An’ nobody knows what<span class="pagenum" id="Page_249">[249]</span> -ter think about the way he was hurt. ’Pears like some’un -come up behind him an’ hit him over the head with the -handle of a quirt. An’ yit thar’s things about it which -don’t make it look like that, neither.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t Jake talk?”</p> - -<p>“Nary, he kain’t. He jest lays quiet an’ limp, with -his eyes closed—more’n two-thirds acrost the divide, if -I’ve got any savvy about sich things. But all this ain’t -what I want ter tell ye.”</p> - -<p>“Then get down to cases, Sim,” urged the scout, “if -it’s important.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, it sure is important. When Bloom, an’ the -doctor, an’ Quiller, an’ me got ter whar Jeems had Jake -stretched out on the grass, thar was five other cowboys -from the H-P ranch thar. Bloom’s a pill. He’s talkin’ -all the time as how it must ’a’ been Nate Dunbar who -done the bizness fer Jake. Them cowboys ketches fire -right off. ‘If Dunbar’s at the Star-A,’ they says, ‘we’ll -git him; an’ he won’t last long when we do git him.’ -With that the five of ’em wheels around an’ starts fer -the H-P ranch, ter pick up another bunch o’ punchers, -I opine, an’ ride fer the Star-A ter git Nate. Bloom, -although he’s sher’ff an’ ort ter stand up fer the law, -never says ay, yes, er no ter ’em, but lets ’em go on. -That’s what was kerryin’ me back ter town ter see you, -Buffler Bill. Thar’ll be a swarm o’ H-P cowboys comin’ -down on the Star-A folks bymby, an’ somebody like you -ort ter be out thar.”</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce’s news was intensely disquieting.</p> - -<p>“Since Bloom won’t do his duty,” said the scout, “it’s -up to us to take care of Nate. We’ll change our minds -about riding for the H-P ranch, Nick,” he added, “and -strike a bee line for the Star-A.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_250">[250]</span></p> - -<p>“I’ll go with ye,” declared Sim Pierce. “Mebby ye’re -goin’ ter need me.”</p> - -<p>“We may need all the men we can muster,” answered -the scout. “This affair has taken an angle that may -result in a world of trouble for our friends at the -Star-A.”</p> - -<p>The horses were turned from the trail and headed -toward another part of the Brazos.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill wished to spare Mrs. Dunbar as much -as possible, so he and the trapper, and Pierce slowed -their gait when close to the ranch and rode up slowly. -They saw Nate out near the corral, heating an iron to -brand a “dogie.” Dick Perry was with Nate. The calf -was bound and lying on the ground, and the two ranchers -were leaning against the corral fence, talking. The -coming of the scout and his companions aroused their -curiosity.</p> - -<p>“Well, well!” laughed Nate, “this is almost too good -to be true, Buffalo Bill. I thought you weren’t going -to get back here before to-morrow?”</p> - -<p>“Something has happened that brought me here, -Nate,” answered the scout, dismounting and turning -Bear Paw over to Nomad to be cared for.</p> - -<p>“You’ve been riding pretty fast, it looks like,” spoke -up Perry.</p> - -<p>There was anxiety in his voice. Ever since he had -been fighting the cattle barons, he had never known -when or how the lightning was going to strike. Very -little was needed to arouse his apprehensions.</p> - -<p>“I was in a hurry, Perry,” the scout answered. “Nate,” -and he turned to the younger of the two ranchers, -“what did you do on the way back from town?”</p> - -<p>“Do?” echoed Dunbar; “why, I just rode. What else<span class="pagenum" id="Page_251">[251]</span> -was there to do? I picked up that stray calf on the way, -and snaked it along for the last mile. You’ve got me -guessing, Buffalo Bill. What’s gone crossways?”</p> - -<p>“Did you ride the Star-A trail all the way?” asked the -scout.</p> - -<p>“Didn’t I tell you I would?”</p> - -<p>“Yes. You didn’t follow Jake Phelps, did you?”</p> - -<p>Protest flashed in Nate’s eyes.</p> - -<p>“What’s the use of asking me such a question, -amigo?” he demanded. “A promise to you is a promise. -I haven’t seen Jake Phelps since he rode away from the -front of the hotel.”</p> - -<p>“I could have made affidavit to that!” exclaimed the -scout, with a feeling of relief.</p> - -<p>“But what’s this all about?” put in Perry.</p> - -<p>“Well, Jake Phelps was badly hurt on the way from -Hackamore to the H-P ranch. Two cowboys, coming -into town from the ranch, found his horse, racing for -home without a saddle. A little farther along the trail -they found Nate, saddle and money gone, sprawled out -on the ground.”</p> - -<p>Perturbation was written large in the faces of Dunbar -and Perry. They stared at the scout and then at each -other. For a moment no one spoke.</p> - -<p>“Was—was he killed?” asked Nate finally, moistening -his dry lips with his tongue.</p> - -<p>“No,” said the scout, “but he was in pretty bad shape. -The doctor doesn’t know whether he’ll pull through or -not. The worst part of it is, he’s unconscious and can’t -tell what happened to him. The longer he remains unconscious, -Nate,” the scout answered kindly, “the worse -it becomes for you. Of course, none of us believes you -had anything to do with what happened, but Bloom is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_252">[252]</span> -no friend of yours, and Bloom is with the H-P outfit -now.”</p> - -<p>Again was there a silence. Nate threw a look toward -the house where his bride of a few days was busy with -her household work. His lips twitched. Presently he -pulled his revolver from its holster and handed it out to -Buffalo Bill.</p> - -<p>“Examine that, amigo,” he begged. “Every chamber -is loaded—not a bullet missing. I haven’t touched the -gun since I put it up in the office of the Delmonico -Hotel.”</p> - -<p>The scout waved the weapon away.</p> - -<p>“Your bare word is enough for me,” said he, “and for -the rest of your friends. Anyhow, Nate, it wasn’t a -bullet that caused the trouble for Jake Phelps.”</p> - -<p>“What was it?”</p> - -<p>“The handle of a quirt, or a club of some sort.”</p> - -<p>“I hadn’t a quirt with me,” protested Nate. “As for -a club——”</p> - -<p>He changed ends with the revolver and looked at the -handgrip absently.</p> - -<p>“This,” said he, “is the only club I could have used. -Does it look as though I had used it?”</p> - -<p>He held it up.</p> - -<p>“This is tough,” muttered Perry. “If it isn’t one -thing with us, it’s another, right along. My boy,” and he -laid a hand on Nate’s shoulder, “that quarrel with Jake -Phelps was bad business for you.”</p> - -<p>From this it appeared that Nate had already told -Perry of what had taken place in the hotel office.</p> - -<p>“A quarrel of any kind is always bad business,” -dropped in the scout, “but what makes this particularly -bad for Nate is the fact that Jake was knocked down<span class="pagenum" id="Page_253">[253]</span> -and robbed on the trail. There are those in town who -overheard the last words spoken by Nate and Jack -Phelps. Those last words were threats. Nate left town -very soon after Jake rode away. That also is known.”</p> - -<p>Anger rose in Dunbar’s eyes and flamed in his face.</p> - -<p>“But who dares call me a thief?” he cried. “If I followed -Jack Phelps to have it out with him, would I -have taken his dirty money? Would I have used a club -when I had a gun handy? As a matter of fact, could I -have got close enough to him to use a club before he -would have sent a bullet into me? Why don’t people -use a little reason? Great guns! They might give me -credit for not being such a fool!”</p> - -<p>“Maybe Lige Benner is back of this in some way?” -suggested Perry.</p> - -<p>“No,” said the scout, “Benner is not back of it,” and -he went on to tell how the owner of the Circle-B ranch -had come to the hotel and made his peace with the -Star-A ranchers through the scout.</p> - -<p>This line of talk brought Red Steve prominently to -the fore.</p> - -<p>“Et was Red Steve as done et,” declared the old trapper. -“He laid fer Jake. Mebbyso he knowed Jake had -the pay-roll money. Red was plannin’ ter git out o’ the -kentry, an’ the money would shore come handy fer him.”</p> - -<p>“It was Red Steve!” declared Perry.</p> - -<p>“Admitting that it was Red Steve,” said Dunbar, “the -same thing would apply to him that applied to me. How -could he ever get close enough to Jake to hit him over -the head with a club. It don’t sound reasonable. -There’s something more back of it.”</p> - -<p>“It all depends,” qualified the scout, “on the lay of -the land at the place where the attack on Jake was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_254">[254]</span> -made. If there were bushes where Red Steve could lie -concealed——”</p> - -<p>“Thar warn’t,” spoke up Pierce. “It was flat kentry, -whar the attack was made, an’ nothin’ but grass. Thar -warn’t no place whar a feller could hide. How Red -Steve ever done it is a myst’ry, but he sure done it -someway.”</p> - -<p>“It was Red Steve, of course,” averred Buffalo Bill. -“Where are the rest of my pards, Perry?”</p> - -<p>“They’re out looking for Red Steve,” answered Perry; -“they left pretty soon after you struck out for town.”</p> - -<p>“The baron and Little Cayuse went with them?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then we are short-handed and no mistake,” muttered -the scout.</p> - -<p>“Short-handed for what?” asked Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Tell him, Sim,” said Buffalo Bill, “just as you told -me.”</p> - -<p>Sim Pierce told about the five cowboys who had -started back to Phelps’ ranch with the evident intention -of increasing their numbers and coming to the Star-A -after Nate. Dunbar’s face blanched. But it was not -fear for himself that suddenly raced through him. He -was thinking of Hattie.</p> - -<p>“Dick,” said he, turning to his father-in-law, “you -take Hattie at once and go with her to some safe place -where——”</p> - -<p>“No,” interrupted Perry, his face set and hard, “Hattie -and I will stay right here. If the H-P cowboys come -they’ll find us at home. Hattie can use a gun as well as -anybody, and there’ll be trouble if the Phelps outfit try -to take you out of the house.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_255">[255]</span></p> - -<p>Old Nomad walked over to Perry and gripped his -hand.</p> - -<p>“Perry,” he said approvingly, “ye’re the clear quill. I -allers knowed et, but ther fact never stuck out o’ ye -same as now. We’re all goin’ ter stand by Nate. I’m -only sorry a heap thet Wild Bill, the baron, an’ Leetle -Cayuse ain’t hyar ter help out. But,” and the old -trapper swept his grim eyes over the group, “we’re quite -er sizeable handful, I reckon.”</p> - -<p>“Go in and tell your wife, Nate,” counseled Buffalo -Bill. “She must know all about this, and it’s better to -have it come from you. Tell her not to be alarmed, -for the chances are good that Red Steve is going to be -captured by Wild Bill. Pard Hickok, you know, has -made a vow that he’ll lay Red Steve by the heels. Ace -Hawkins befriended Hickok, and that means that our -pard will do his best to have the law avenge him. The -principal thing is to keep the Phelps outfit from doing -anything rash until Red Steve is located and brought in—or -until Jake Phelps recovers his wits and tells the -truth about what happened to him.”</p> - -<p>Nate started for the house to perform his disagreeable -duty. The scout would have spared Mrs. Dunbar the -details, if he could, but Perry’s decision to stay with her -and see Nate through the gathering storm made it necessary -for the girl to be told everything.</p> - -<p>“Nick,” said the scout, “I want you and Pierce to -watch the trails. Get out a little way from the ranch -house, and when you see the cowboys coming, rush in -with the news.”</p> - -<p>Nomad and Pierce departed at once. Perry went -thoughtfully over to the fire, picked up the white-hot -branding iron and seared the calf with the Star-A brand;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_256">[256]</span> -then he released the animal and it darted away into the -timber.</p> - -<p>“No matter what happens, Buffalo Bill,” said Perry, -with deep feeling, “your generous aid will always be -remembered and appreciated. What we should have -done without you and your pards, during our troubles -here, is more than I know. But all our other troubles -were small compared with this.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll pull through this flare-up with ground to -spare, Perry,” asserted the scout. “Don’t lose your -nerve, now, of all times. I——”</p> - -<p>The scout broke off abruptly. There was a thump of -hoofs along the trail, swiftly approaching. A moment -later a pinto pony with a small rider broke into sight -and headed for the corral.</p> - -<p>“Cayuse!” exclaimed the scout. “This is better than -I hoped for.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_257">[257]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVI">CHAPTER XXVI.<br /> -<span class="fs70">THE MOB FROM PHELPS’ RANCH.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“How, Pa-e-has-ka?” said Little Cayuse, sliding from -Navi’s back. “You make um heap quick ride to town.”</p> - -<p>The sharp-eyed lad saw that there was something -unusual in the wind. A look at the scout’s face, even if -there had been no other evidences of trouble, would have -been enough for him.</p> - -<p>“Where are Wild Bill and the baron?” the scout asked.</p> - -<p>He was hoping they might be so close that Cayuse -could go after them and get them to the ranch before -H-P outfit arrived.</p> - -<p>“All same down river,” reported Cayuse. “Make um -hunt for Red Steve.”</p> - -<p>“Are they having any luck?”</p> - -<p>“Find um trail, lose um, find um again.”</p> - -<p>“They’ve hit Red Steve’s trail, have they?”</p> - -<p>“Hit um trail man on foot. Mebbyso Red Steve, mebbyso -somebody else. Quien sabe?”</p> - -<p>The boy shrugged his shoulders and grunted.</p> - -<p>“How far away are Wild Bill and the baron?”</p> - -<p>“Mebbyso ten mile.”</p> - -<p>This was too far. The scout could not send Cayuse -after his missing pards with any hope that they would -be able to reach the Star-A ranch before the mob of -cowboys arrived. Anyway, if they were on Red Steve’s -trail, the scout preferred to leave them to run it out. -It was of the utmost importance that Red Steve be -found.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_258">[258]</span></p> - -<p>Something of what was passing in the scout’s mind -was divined by Perry.</p> - -<p>“If you could get your pards here, Buffalo Bill,” said -the rancher, “it might be a good idea.”</p> - -<p>“I doubt whether Cayuse could cover the ten miles -and bring them here before the mob arrives,” answered -the scout. “Besides, Perry, it is almost as important that -Red Steve be apprehended before he can get out of the -country. I think we had better leave Wild Bill and -the baron to take care of that part of the work. From -what Cayuse tells us, I believe luck has been with them, -and that they are on the right scent.”</p> - -<p>Cayuse was deeply interested in the mysterious state -of affairs at the ranch. He was not given to asking -questions; it was rather his part to keep his ears and -eyes wide open and pick up what he wanted to know -from the ordinary course of events.</p> - -<p>The scout, however, proceeded to explain to him just -what the situation meant. The boy’s eyes sparkled as he -listened.</p> - -<p>“Cayuse make um ride back plenty good time, hey?” -he asked. “Buenos! Me like um.”</p> - -<p>“Why did you come back?” the scout asked.</p> - -<p>“Wild Bill say Cayuse come, make um stay ’long with -Perry and white squaw. Him say tell um Pa-e-has-ka -we find um trail, mebbyso follow um trail all night. -Ugh!”</p> - -<p>“I see. Wild Bill thinks he may be all night running -out the trail, and if I got back from town he wanted -me to know that he thought he was meeting with some -success. Put out your pinto, Cayuse, and we’ll go into -the house. There’ll be some preparations to be made,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_259">[259]</span> -Perry,” he added to the rancher while the Piute boy -was attending to Navi.</p> - -<p>“It won’t take long to make the preparations,” returned -the rancher. “From the looks of things, I -shouldn’t wonder if Nate and Hattie were already making -preparations.”</p> - -<p>A wooden shutter closed over one of the cabin windows, -on the side facing the corral.</p> - -<p>“Those shutters,” went on Perry, “are bullet-proof. -Nate rigged them up when we first began having trouble -with the barons. I never thought we’d have to use them -in helping to keep a mob of lynchers away from Nate.”</p> - -<p>The scout caught the discouraged note in the rancher’s -voice.</p> - -<p>“There’ll be no lynching,” said he, with a resolute -snap of the jaws, “even if there are lynchers coming. -Rest assured of that. I have a little authority from the -United States Government, and I’ll use it.”</p> - -<p>“What do those frenzied cowboys care for the government?” -returned Perry. “They’re mad for vengeance -by now, and it will be useless to try to reason with -them.”</p> - -<p>“We may find a way to bring them to their senses.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a shame and a disgrace that Bloom is not standing -shoulder to shoulder with us,” said Perry bitterly. -“He doesn’t care a rap for law and order, if there’s any -violence aimed at us out here. In this case he seems -to have helped inflame the mob to do its dastardly work.”</p> - -<p>Cayuse came out of the corral, closed and locked the -gate and stepped to Buffalo Bill’s side. The little Piute -had his revolver in his hands and, as he walked toward -the house at the scout’s side, he was poking cartridges -into the cylinder.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_260">[260]</span></p> - -<p>He was perfectly cool, and his matter-of-fact way in -making preparations showed that he could be depended -on to do his best.</p> - -<p>In the house the scout found everything in order. The -shutters were closed over the windows, and the interior -of the cabin was dark and stuffy. A rifle lay across a -table in the living room. Dunbar was laying a supply -of cartridges beside it. Not far away his wife was loading -a shotgun. The two were working silently.</p> - -<p>“Mrs. Dunbar,” said Buffalo Bill, admiration mounting -in his breast as he saw how bravely the girl was rising to -the occasion, “you’re a brick.”</p> - -<p>“Those scoundrels,” Mrs. Dunbar answered, with flashing -eyes, “will not take Nate out of this house if I can do -anything to help it.”</p> - -<p>“They’ll not take him, Mrs. Dunbar,” returned the -scout reassuringly. “There are a few of us here to make -sure of that. Don’t be alarmed.”</p> - -<p>“When will we ever get to the end of these troubles?” -murmured the girl, with a catch in her voice.</p> - -<p>“You are almost at the end of them now,” answered -the scout, in a kindly voice. “It is always darkest just -before dawn, you know.”</p> - -<p>“The day of hope is a long while breaking for us,” -said Mrs. Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“It will be all the brighter when it finally comes. Let’s -go out in front, Perry, and wait there for developments.”</p> - -<p>There was a bench near the front door of the cabin. -Here Perry and Buffalo Bill seated themselves. Little -Cayuse sat just inside the door, his head bowed over -and his arms folded. Suddenly he broke into a crooning -chant that came weirdly to the ears of the rancher and -the scout.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_261">[261]</span></p> - -<p>“What’s that?” asked Perry; “what’s the boy doing, -Buffalo Bill?”</p> - -<p>“He is calling on his fathers and his Piute gods. He -wants the Great Spirit to be kind to Nate Dunbar and the -white squaw. Listen!”</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent2">“Ta-vi kwai-nant-si ya-ga-wats</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Si-chom-pa kung-war-ru</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Tu-yung-wi-ra-vats.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The strange words floated out of the door, not unmusically, -although they were little more than a whisper.</p> - -<p>“What is it?” queried Perry. “What’s the chant -about?”</p> - -<p>“It’s the ‘Eagle Tears’ song—</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“‘At morn the eagle will cry,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">On the farther shore of the sea,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And the rainbow will be in the sky.’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>“A rainbow,” murmured Perry, “is a sign of hope.”</p> - -<p>“Exactly,” smiled the scout, “and Little Cayuse is -doing something which, he believes, will bring Mr. and -Mrs. Dunbar a happy day. He has a song for everything—for -sadness, for victory, for bringing courage to -a warrior’s heart. The boy thinks a lot of Mrs. Dunbar. -She has been mighty kind to Cayuse, while we have -been staying at your ranch, Perry, and kindness is something -the Piute boy never forgets.”</p> - -<p>“You and your pards are all our good friends,” said -Perry, “down even to Little Cayuse. Well, if we do get -out of this, it will be Buffalo Bill and his pards who -makes the strike for us. I’ve been wondering if we -couldn’t send word to Bloom over at the H-P ranch and -demand that he come here and keep this mob away.”</p> - -<p>The scout shook his head.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_262">[262]</span></p> - -<p>“It would be foolish to try such a move as that,” he -declared. “Bloom can not be depended on to do anything -for law and order when you and Dunbar are concerned. -If we sent Cayuse after him he wouldn’t come. -Even if he did come, he wouldn’t be a help, but a hindrance.”</p> - -<p>“If he should come here and demand that we turn -Nate over to him——”</p> - -<p>“We’d tell him mañana, Perry. We’ve got to keep -Nate out of Bloom’s hands entirely.”</p> - -<p>“A nice state of affairs this range has dropped into,” -fretted Perry, “when honest cattlemen can’t look to the -legal authorities for protection against mobs of lynchers. -If we——”</p> - -<p>He broke off abruptly and jumped to his feet. The -scout also started up.</p> - -<p>Old Nomad and Sam Pierce had broken into sight -along the timbered trail, running at top speed toward -the house.</p> - -<p>“I reckon we’re close to a show-down,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>“They’re on ther way, Buffler,” puffed the old trapper, -as he and Pierce came to the front of the cabin.</p> - -<p>“Who, Nomad?”</p> - -<p>It was Hattie’s voice from the door.</p> - -<p>“The punchers from the H-P ranch gal,” answered -the trapper.</p> - -<p>“How many are there of them, Nick?” inquired the -scout.</p> - -<p>“Fifteen.”</p> - -<p>“Did you recognize any of them?”</p> - -<p>“They was too fur off, Buffler, ter make out who they -aire.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_263">[263]</span></p> - -<p>“You could have recognized Hank Phelps easily -enough, in his Mexican clothes.”</p> - -<p>“Waal, I didn’t see him, an’ I don’t reckon he’s erlong.”</p> - -<p>“Into the house, pards,” ordered the scout, “and we’ll -make ready to hold our ground.”</p> - -<p>Perry had already pushed into the cabin. Pierce and -Nomad followed him. The scout was last to enter, -and he closed the door and dropped a stout oak bar -across it.</p> - -<p>A few moments later there came a sodden roll of -hoofs, growing louder and louder.</p> - -<p>The scout, peering through a loophole, saw fifteen -armed men debouch from the timber and surround the -cabin.</p> - -<p>“Not a shot is to be fired,” said Buffalo Bill to the -silent little group in the cabin, “until I give the word. -We will use our weapons only as a last resort and not -until every other expedient is exhausted.”</p> - -<p>From his loophole the scout saw one of the cowboys -throw himself from the saddle and advance upon the front -door. The plans of the H-P men must have been well -considered, for each of the party moved at once to his -post in the cordon that surrounded the cabin. There -was no talking, no confusion. A fist pounded on the -door.</p> - -<p>“Who’s there?” called the scout.</p> - -<p>“A crowd of fellers from the H-P ranch,” answered a -hoarse voice, “and we mean business right from the drop -o’ the hat.”</p> - -<p>“What do you want?”</p> - -<p>“We want the murderin’ hound that done fer Jake -Phelps!”</p> - -<p>A stifled cry escaped Mrs. Dunbar. Nate stepped over<span class="pagenum" id="Page_264">[264]</span> -and put his arm around her waist, at the same time -whispering to her encouragingly.</p> - -<p>“Is Jake Phelps done for?” asked the scout, intent on -securing a little information.</p> - -<p>“Purty nigh,” was the answer. “He ain’t never spoke -a word since he was found on the trail, where Dunbar -knocked him out o’ the saddle.”</p> - -<p>Here was something, at all events. Phelps was still -alive, and while there was life there was hope that he -would recover.</p> - -<p>“Wait a minute,” said the scout. “I don’t like talking -through a door, and I’m coming out.”</p> - -<p>Perry made a gesture of protest.</p> - -<p>“I want to reason with these men,” said the scout, in -a low tone, “and I can do it better face to face with -them.”</p> - -<p>“But what if they should capture you?” murmured -Mrs. Dunbar, her voice sharp with apprehension. “What -should we do then, Buffalo Bill, with you taken from -us?”</p> - -<p>“He won’t be captered, gal,” returned old Nomad. -“I’ll let Buffler out, an’ I’ll stand by ther door ter let him -in ag’in. He’ll come in a-hummin’ ef they make er move -ter rush him.”</p> - -<p>The scout took a precautionary look through the loophole -and stepped to the door. The trapper lifted the -bar and the scout stepped to the front of the cabin.</p> - -<p>The cowboy scowled at him. There were no more -than five of the H-P outfit in sight, the others being -scattered around the cabin.</p> - -<p>“Call the rest of your party here,” said the scout. “I -want to talk to all of you.”</p> - -<p>“Think I’m easy?” snorted the cowboy. “When them<span class="pagenum" id="Page_265">[265]</span> -from the back part o’ the house come here, Dunbar’ll -hike through the kitchen door an’ git inter the woods.”</p> - -<p>“Dunbar isn’t going to run,” declared the scout. “I -knew you men were coming from the Phelps ranch, and -brought the news here two or three hours ago. If Nate -had wanted to run he would have had plenty of chance. -He’s an innocent man, and I think I can make you fellows -see it and leave here in peace.”</p> - -<p>“He ain’t innercent,” cried the cowboy. “He done fer -Jake Phelps, an’ us fellers aire here ter git him if we -have ter burn the house.”</p> - -<p>“Not Nate Dunbar but Red Steve is the man you -want.”</p> - -<p>“We know who we want, an’ we ain’t goin’ ter waste -much more time gittin’ him, nuther.”</p> - -<p>“What’s your name?” queried the scout, suddenly -changing his tactics.</p> - -<p>These men were not in a mood to listen to reason. -Impatient yells had come from all around the cabin, -demanding that the spokesman stop his talking and do -something.</p> - -<p>“Prouther,” said the cowboy.</p> - -<p>“For whatever happens here, Prouther,” threatened -the scout, “I shall hold you and those with you responsible. -You’ll not take Nate Dunbar away from us. If -you try it, there’ll be shooting; and you men out here -will be better targets than those of us who are in the -house.”</p> - -<p>Two of the other cowboys had dismounted and come to -Prouther’s side.</p> - -<p>“What good’s all this chinnin’?” growled one.</p> - -<p>“He come out ter talk, Klinger,” answered Prouther, -“an’ I reckoned we might as well listen.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_266">[266]</span></p> - -<p>“While we’re listenin’,” said the third cowboy, -“mebby them in the cabin aire doin’ somethin’. Pass it -up an’ let’s git busy.”</p> - -<p>“What’s yer answer?” demanded Prouther, facing the -scout truculently.</p> - -<p>“Before I give you my answer,” said Buffalo Bill, “let -me tell you this: There’s law on the Brazos still, if not -State law then national law. I represent the government. -My name is Cody, and I’m on detached service. I -reckon you men know me.” His face hardened and his -lithe, muscular form straightened to its full height. -“Whenever I lay hold of a proposition I generally make -good. I tell you, Nate Dunbar had nothing to do with -the injury from which Jake Phelps is lying unconscious -at the H-P ranch. He——”</p> - -<p>“Bosh!” howled Klinger. “Didn’t him an’ Jake git ter -loggerheads in Hackamore? Didn’t you order Jake out -o’ town? An’ didn’t Dunbar foller him? What did he -foller him fer if it wasn’t ter do him up?”</p> - -<p>“Nate didn’t follow Jake Phelps, but came straight to -the Star-A by the most direct trail. Suppose he did follow -him. If Nate wanted to do Phelps up, as you say, -then why didn’t he use his revolver instead of a club? -What was Phelps doing with his own revolver while -Dunbar was riding up behind him and hitting him with -a club? Can’t you men use a little reason?”</p> - -<p>But the would-be lynchers had no reason. They were -blindly determined to take the law in their own hands.</p> - -<p>“We know Dunbar done it!” Prouther whooped. “Will -ye trot him out here, or hev we got ter come in arter -him?”</p> - -<p>“Think this over well before you make a move!” -warned the scout.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_267">[267]</span></p> - -<p>Suddenly, as by a preconcerted signal, Klinger and -Prouther hurled themselves at Buffalo Bill. He received -them—and they must have been astonished at the manner -of their reception.</p> - -<p>The scout’s fists shot out right and left like the piston-rods -of a locomotive. Prouther and Klinger reeled back -under the impact of the blows. With an oath, the other -man fumbled at his revolver. Before he could draw -it, the scout leaped into the air, after the manner of a -French savateur, and kicked the weapon out of his hand.</p> - -<p>Nomad, who had been watching proceedings with cat-like -vigilance, threw open the door and the scout faded -inside the cabin. When the wrathful cowboys pulled -themselves together, only the blank expanse of the door -faced them. Yelling furiously, they began slamming bullets -into the stout oak barrier.</p> - -<p>Those behind heard the shooting and likewise opened -a fusillade.</p> - -<p>“All we can do now,” said Nate Dunbar, his face white -and set, “is to give them as good as they send—or better.”</p> - -<p>“Wait!” interposed the scout, “we’re not in the last -ditch yet.”</p> - -<p>“What d’ye want ter wait fer, Buffler?” spoke up old -Nomad. “All them thar ijuts aire in plain sight. We kin -pick ’em off in one, two, three style.”</p> - -<p>“We’re not here to pick anybody off, Nick,” said the -scout. “We’re here to save Nate Dunbar, and not to -make this matter any worse than it is. Let them waste -their ammunition on the walls of the cabin, if they want -to. It’s not hurting us, and it’s allowing some of their -steam to escape. Maybe they won’t be under such high -pressure after they shoot a while.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_268">[268]</span></p> - -<p>For a minute or two the bullets continued to thump -against the cabin walls. After that there came an interval -of silence while the cowboys moved farther back -into the timber. From the loopholes they could be seen -preparing torches.</p> - -<p>“They’re going to fire the house!” gasped Perry.</p> - -<p>“Them fellers’ll do anythin’,” averred Sim Pierce. -“They’re crazy mad. When they come ter think this over -termorrer, they’ll wonder how the blazes they ever let -their senses run away from ’em in this way. It’s a rough -bizness, an’ no mistake.”</p> - -<p>“They’ll not fire the house,” said Buffalo Bill. “In -order to do that, they’ll have to come within range of -our guns. They have at least sense enough to understand -that we can pick them off as fast as they come at -us with their torches.”</p> - -<p>But, in this, the scout was mistaken. The H-P men -had taken the box from a lumber wagon, and were manipulating -it in such a way that half a dozen of them could -carry it and advance with it for a breastwork.</p> - -<p>“Thet’s er whale of er idee!” growled the old trapper. -“I reckon et kyboshes us some, too. Hey, Buffler?”</p> - -<p>The scout peered gravely at the advancing wagon box. -It moved forward for a dozen feet, and then rested. During -the rest, Prouther showed himself, and the other cowboys -advanced a little.</p> - -<p>“We’re goin’ ter give ye another chance!” yelled -Prouther.</p> - -<p>“Another chance for what?” called back the scout.</p> - -<p>“Why, ter give up that feller we want. If ye don’t -give him up, we’ll shore burn the ranch house. If we -kain’t git him one way, we kin another.”</p> - -<p>“There’s no way you can git him!” the scout roared<span class="pagenum" id="Page_269">[269]</span> -defiantly. “We’re well armed in here, Prouther, and -you’ll find it out to your cost if you keep on as you’re -going.”</p> - -<p>“Talk’s cheap. Aire we ter have Dunbar? Yes or -no.”</p> - -<p>“No!”</p> - -<p>There was no mistaking the finality the scout put into -the word. Again the wagon box was picked up and started -forward.</p> - -<p>Then, like a bombshell, a voice came from the woods -back of the H-P men:</p> - -<p>“Stand where you are! If another shot is fired at -that cabin, or if you fellows carry this lawless game any -further, I’ll riddle the lot of you! I’m here with twenty-five -men, and they’re armed with rifles. I’ve done a -lot to make war on the Brazos, and now I’ll do just as -much to make peace. You hear me!”</p> - -<p>There followed a breathless silence, during which a -man in black rode out of the timber and pulled his horse -to a halt.</p> - -<p>“My men are back there,” he went on, waving his hand -in the direction of the woods, “and each one of them has -his rifle leveled.” He laughed. “I reckon that, between -us, Buffalo Bill and I have a cinch on this lay-out.”</p> - -<p>“Er-waugh!” muttered old Nomad dazedly. “I’m er -Piegan ef et ain’t Lige Benner! An’ he fightin’ fer us -an’ not ag’in us! Hev I got ther blind staggers?”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_270">[270]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVII">CHAPTER XXVII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">BENNER’S CHANGE OF HEART.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>“What’s back of this?” breathed Dick Perry suspiciously. -“What’s Lige Benner’s real purpose in acting -this way?”</p> - -<p>The rancher had for so long been the victim of Benner’s -plots, that even now he could not take his show of -friendship at face value.</p> - -<p>“Benner,” answered the scout, “has undergone a -change of heart. There’s nothing back of this move of -his except a desire to establish peace on the river. He’s -tired of the squabbling. For once in his life, at least, -Lige Benner is showing that there’s some good in him. -Watch—watch and listen! Let’s see how he handles the -affair.”</p> - -<p>All eyes in the cabin peered from the loopholes. Horseman -after horseman had ridden from the woods into -plain view—all Circle-B men, and numbering fully a -score and five. Each of Benner’s men had a rifle, and -each held it trained on a hostile cowboy.</p> - -<p>The H-P contingent were stunned into silence and inaction. -The wagon box tumbled over and the torches -dropped from the hands of the would-be firebugs.</p> - -<p>Certainly it was an odd situation. Both Phelps’ men -and Benner’s had fought side by side against the Star-A -ranchers, along at the first of the troubles. Each side had -comrades in the other side, and for the two parties to -stand ready to leap at each other’s throat formed a -strange commentary on the ways of fate.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_271">[271]</span></p> - -<p>“You see,” called Lige Benner, “I’m the boss of this -end of the business. There are fifteen of you and twenty-six -of us. We have rifles, and you have small arms. -Likewise, we have the drop.”</p> - -<p>“I—I thort you fellers was friends o’ our’n!” stuttered -Prouther.</p> - -<p>“So we are,” answered Benner. “We’re the best -friends you H-P fellers ever had. What we’re doing -now is the friendliest kind of an act. Prouther, we’re -keeping you from doing something you’d be sorry for—something -you’d be brought to book for. You’re fighting -Buffalo Bill, and you’re laying yourself wide open by -your lawlessness. If you had been allowed to keep on, -sooner or later Buffalo Bill would have made you pay -up in full.”</p> - -<p>“But Nate Dunbar done up Jake Phelps!”</p> - -<p>“Be hanged to that! Dunbar is as guilty of that as I -am—just about. But I’ve talked enough. You punchers -will file past me, one at a time, and drop your guns in -front of my horse. After that, you will take to your -mounts and hustle for home—and you’ll stay home when -you get there, for I intend to keep this force of men on -guard here until this Jake Phelps matter is settled, and -settled right. You can head the procession, Prouther!”</p> - -<p>“I’m blamed if I’ll give up my guns!” howled Prouther.</p> - -<p>“You’ll give them up, and no more words about it. If -you’ll ride over to the Circle-B, in two or three days, -you can have the weapons back again. Start yourself, -Prouther!”</p> - -<p>Prouther tried to haggle further. Thereupon Benner -ordered one of his men to dismount and take his weapons -away from him. Prouther swore, but he had to yield.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_272">[272]</span> -Two rifles were aimed at him, and the faces behind the -guns were full of grim resolution.</p> - -<p>The rest of the H-P men did not make so much trouble. -They realized that they were helpless to do otherwise -than obey orders. One by one they defiled past -Lige Benner, and one by one they snatched their weapons -from their belts and flung them angrily down.</p> - -<p>When they were all disarmed, Benner ordered them to -their horses. They rushed at their animals, hurled themselves -into their saddles and careered away, roaring their -threats as to what they would do later.</p> - -<p>As soon as the last hoofbeat had died to silence, Buffalo -Bill pulled open the cabin door and passed out in front. -Lige Benner rode up to him, dismounted, and came forward -with outstretched hand.</p> - -<p>“Do you believe that I mean well now?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“I never doubted that you meant to do the right thing, -Benner,” answered the scout heartily, giving the offered -hand a cordial clasp. “How were you able to get here -just when we most needed help?”</p> - -<p>“I left Hackamore just after I talked with you, and -rode for home. I hadn’t been there long when I heard -this about Dunbar. A little while after that, one of our -boys who had been over at the H-P ranch, rode in and -told me that the lynching party of fifteen had started for -the Star-A. As quick as I could, I got this force of men -together, gave them a short talk, and we rode here. I -reckon you know the rest.”</p> - -<p>Dunbar, Perry, Hattie Dunbar, Sim Pierce, old Nomad -and Little Cayuse had crowded through the door while -Lige Benner was talking. The scout stepped a little apart -and waited to see what would happen between Benner -and the Star-A ranchers.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_273">[273]</span></p> - -<p>There was an embarrassing pause, for a few moments. -Benner cut it short by stepping up to Perry.</p> - -<p>“Dick Perry,” said he, “let me frankly say that I never -liked you, but also let me confess that I had no real reason -for putting myself at swords’ points with you. I was -in the wrong. I did not make this about face because -I felt that I was in the wrong, but because I felt that I -should be drawn into a bad tangle unless Red Steve was -captured and made to tell the truth about Ace Hawkins. -But I’m receding from that position. I’m beginning to -want peace on the Brazos for its own sake. I take it, you -and Dunbar are as anxious to find Red Steve as I am? -Then let’s make common cause. Will you take my -hand?”</p> - -<p>Perry hesitated. In the gathering dusk, the scout saw -his eyes flash and his face harden; then, generously, he -threw past grievances to the winds and took the hand -held out to him.</p> - -<p>Nate Dunbar pushed forward with his wife. His left -arm encircled Hattie’s waist, and together they stood in -front of their old enemy.</p> - -<p>“Hattie and I want to be in on this,” said Nate. “I -don’t say, mind you, that you saved me from those H-P -men. They never would have got me, for I had Buffalo -Bill and his pards on my side. But you did keep us -from shooting into the party of lynchers, and that would -have caused no end of trouble. Red Steve must have -been the man who tackled Jake Phelps on the trail. As -you say, Benner, we have common cause against him. -Perry has met you halfway, and with him for an example, -Hattie and I won’t hang back in doing the same thing.”</p> - -<p>They shook hands, and Benner doffed his black sombrero -and bowed to Mrs. Dunbar.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_274">[274]</span></p> - -<p>“Whoop-ya!” jubilated old Nomad. “Ring ther bells! -Let the band toot! Allymand left an’ all sashay! Peace -is shore beginnin’ ter ride circles eround the diffikilties on -ther Brazos! Be happy, ever’body, kase ther merlennium -hes come! Who’d ever a-thort et?”</p> - -<p>“I have to say, Buffalo Bill,” went on Benner, as soon -as the old trapper had eased himself of his glorying, -“that my men will remain on guard around this cabin -until this trouble about Jake Phelps has been straightened -out. There’ll be no more lynching parties. Have -your pards learned anything regarding Red Steve?”</p> - -<p>“Wild Bill Hickok and the baron are on his trail,” -said the scout. “They’ll be heard from before long.”</p> - -<p>“Wild Bill Hickok is a man of parts,” said Benner, -with a rueful laugh. “I know from personal experience -with him what he can do. If any one can catch Red -Steve, it’s Wild Bill Hickok. We’re to remain quietly -until he reports?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Then I and my men will stay out here.”</p> - -<p>“You can come in the house with the rest of us, -Benner,” said Perry.</p> - -<p>“I’d prefer to be with my men,” was the answer.</p> - -<p>“Anyhow,” put in Dunbar, “we’ll see that you and -your men have supper.”</p> - -<p>Benner went back to his men, and the latter began -caring for their horses. Guards were posted to command -all approaches to the Star-A ranch, and rifles -were kept within easy reach.</p> - -<p>Preparing supper for thirty or more was something -of a task, but Dunbar helped his wife, and Little Cayuse -carried out the food when it was ready.</p> - -<p>There was peace on that part of the Brazos, albeit an<span class="pagenum" id="Page_275">[275]</span> -armed peace. Real peace could not come until Red Steve -was captured, and had been forced to confess all he knew -about Ace Hawkins and Jake Phelps.</p> - -<p>Following supper, the scout and his pards smoked with -Benner in front of the cabin. At a late hour Benner went -to his blankets under the trees. Cayuse bunked down at -the corral by the horses, and the others hunted berths -on the floor of the ranch living room.</p> - -<p>It was in the small hours of the morning that Little -Cayuse crept into the living room and crawled to the -scout.</p> - -<p>“Come, Pa-e-has-ka!” he whispered.</p> - -<p>The scout sat up.</p> - -<p>“What’s wanted?” he asked.</p> - -<p>“Wild Bill make um palaver by corral. You come, Pa-e-has-ka.”</p> - -<p>The scout wondered at all this mysteriousness on Wild -Bill’s part, but he presumed that Hickok, not knowing -the lay of the situation, had made up his mind to proceed -carefully. The main fact seemed to be that the Laramie -man had returned from his search with important news -about Red Steve. Thrilled with hope, the scout left the -house quietly and met Hickok by the corral.</p> - -<p>They talked for several minutes in low tones, and the -scout’s voice betrayed traces of considerable excitement. -At the end of their talk, Buffalo Bill saddled Bear Paw, -gave instructions to Cayuse to say nothing, and slipped -away into the darkest part of the night with Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>Morning came, and great was the excitement when it -was discovered that Buffalo Bill had vanished. Nomad -fretted, the rest wondered, and Cayuse held his peace.</p> - -<p>Breakfast was prepared, and while Benner and his men -were eating out under the trees, and the others were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_276">[276]</span> -taking their meal in the house, Buffalo Bill came slashing -up to the corral, cared for Bear Paw, and hurried to the -cabin.</p> - -<p>There was a queer look on his face, and a queer gleam -in his eyes. Over all, however, was an expression of -triumph not unmixed with amazement.</p> - -<p>“Whar ther nation you been, Buffler?” whooped the old -trapper, when the king of scouts pushed into the kitchen -and took his seat at the table.</p> - -<p>“Been having a little ride, pard,” laughed the scout -indefinitely.</p> - -<p>“Took er leetle pasear around lookin’ fer Red Steve?”</p> - -<p>“Well, you might call it that. I’m hungry as a bear -that has just come out of his hole in the spring. Load -that plate full, Nate.”</p> - -<p>“Sim hyar reckoned he wouldn’t git ter see ye afore he -started fer Hackamore.”</p> - -<p>“Got ter go back,” put in Sim. “I ain’t needed here, -anyways, with all these men o’ Benner’s standing between -Nate an’ trouble. I’ll borry a rifle an’ take it erlong in -case I meet up with Red Thunderbolt. Say, I’d like ter -put a bullet inter that critter. The’s a thousand out for -Red Thunderbolt.”</p> - -<p>“A thousand?” asked the scout, falling to with his knife -and fork.</p> - -<p>“Shore. The cattle barons, up an’ down the river, have -offered a thousand in cash fer the man thet knocks over -that murderin’ maverick. Now, if I could do the -trick——”</p> - -<p>“You can’t, Sim,” cut in Dunbar. “It’s been tried too -many times. Red Thunderbolt bears a charmed life.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t leave the ranch just yet, Pierce,” said the scout. -“There’s something I want you to do.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_277">[277]</span></p> - -<p>“Waal, if ye got any bizness on hand fer me, o’ course -I’ll hang eround. Any more peace-makin’?” grinned -Pierce.</p> - -<p>“That’s what it’s to be.”</p> - -<p>The scout’s face had become sphinxlike, and prying -eyes learned nothing from a study of it.</p> - -<p>“Buffler, ye’re holdin’ somethin’ back!” rumbled the -trapper. “Consarn et, pard, kain’t ye see how I’m on tenterhooks? -Why don’t ye le’go with what ye got on yer -mind? What’s ther use o’ hangin’ fire?”</p> - -<p>The scout laughed.</p> - -<p>“Don’t get inquisitive, Nick. I’ve got a big surprise -in store for all of you, but I must spring it in my own -way, and at my own time.”</p> - -<p>“What kind of er s’prise?”</p> - -<p>“The kind that will make you sit up, open your eyes, -and gasp. I want several in the party.”</p> - -<p>“Me an’ Pierce?” quizzed Nomad.</p> - -<p>“More than that. Hattie must be along, and Nate, and -Perry; also Sim, and you, Nick, and Cayuse.”</p> - -<p>“Jumpin’ catermounts! Why, ye’re cleanin’ out ther -hull ranch house. Ef Wild Bill an’ the baron’ ’u’d on’y -happen erlong, I reckon ye’d take them, too, hey?”</p> - -<p>The scout laughed.</p> - -<p>“Benner will also be with us,” said he, “and Hank -Phelps.”</p> - -<p>The name of Benner was a little surprising, but the -mention of Hank Phelps quite took the breath of the -others.</p> - -<p>“The way Hank Phelps feels toward us, Buffalo Bill,” -said Perry, “it’s doubtful whether he would agree to go.”</p> - -<p>“I think he’ll go, all right, if the invitation is handed -to him in the right way.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_278">[278]</span></p> - -<p>“Arter what happened hyar last night,” chuckled Nomad, -“d’ye opine Phelps would accept any o’ our invitation, -no matter how et was handed ter him?”</p> - -<p>“I reckon he will. You see, to make sure the invitation -is given as it should be, I intend to offer it myself.”</p> - -<p>They all stared at that.</p> - -<p>“How ye goin’ ter work et?” demanded Nomad.</p> - -<p>“I’m going to ride to the H-P ranch directly after -breakfast.”</p> - -<p>“All o’ us with ye?”</p> - -<p>“Certainly not, Nick. Do you imagine that I would -take Nate over to Phelps’ place, while things are as we -have them now? It would be worse than foolish. I’m -going to call on Phelps alone.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t!” begged Perry. “Ruffianly work will be done, -Buffalo Bill. I know Phelps better than you do. He’s -probably as crazy mad over what happened to Jake as -any of his men. You’ll have more on your hands than -you can attend to.”</p> - -<p>“I think not,” said the scout quietly.</p> - -<p>“Stay away from the H-P ranch, amigo,” urged Nate.</p> - -<p>“But it’s necessary for you, necessary for peace on the -Brazos, that I call on him. So I’m going.”</p> - -<p>When the scout spoke in the tone of voice he used -then, further argument was useless. Everybody was -burning with curiosity to know what he had at the back -of his head, but he continued smilingly indefinite.</p> - -<p>“Cayuse,” said he, when he had finished and risen -from the table, “go out and get Bear Paw ready for the -trail. In two hours,” he added to Perry, “I want all the -rest of you to ride to the forks of the trail just where it -divides for Hackamore and the Circle-B ranch. If I’m -not there with Phelps when you get there, wait for us.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_279">[279]</span> -Benner will ride with you, Perry. The Circle-B men -will take care of the ranch until we get back.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t like ther pizen lay-out, not noways,” declared -Nomad, “but orders is orders. Ef we wait more’n two -hours fer ye at the forks o’ ther trail, and ye don’t come, -I’ll ride ter Phelps’ hangout, an’ purceed ter tear things.”</p> - -<p>“Don’t do anything rash, Nick,” counseled the scout, -leaving by the kitchen door and climbing into his saddle.</p> - -<p>At the edge of the timber he drew rein to talk with -Benner.</p> - -<p>“I’ve got something important to say to you, Benner,” -said he, “and my time is limited. Mount and ride a ways -with me.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it.”</p> - -<p>Benner’s horse was put under saddle in record time, -and he and the scout started side by side along the trail -that led to the H-P ranch.</p> - -<p>“I’m going over to call on Phelps,” announced the -scout.</p> - -<p>Benner started in his saddle.</p> - -<p>“Alone?” he inquired.</p> - -<p>“Yes. Business calls me.”</p> - -<p>“It’s dangerous, considering the temper Phelps is in -about Jake. If Jake happens to have crossed the divide, -I would be willing to gamble you have trouble getting -clear of his place with your scalp.”</p> - -<p>“Do you really think so?” asked the scout, with a keen -glance at his companion. “Didn’t I call on Phelps once -before, when you and he were in the ranch house? And -didn’t I get away with ground to spare?”</p> - -<p>A flush stole over Benner’s bronzed face. The scout -had referred to an incident during the time when Phelps -and Benner were at war with Perry and Dunbar. On<span class="pagenum" id="Page_280">[280]</span> -that occasion, Buffalo Bill had rescued Perry from -Phelps’ ranch house, and had left Benner and Phelps -handcuffed back to back.</p> - -<p>“I renig,” said Benner, with a short laugh. “You’re -able to take care of yourself in any and all circumstances, -Buffalo Bill. I reckon you can call on Phelps -and get away again. But what’s the use?”</p> - -<p>“We’re close to the end of this trouble trail,” proceeded -the scout earnestly. “A little quick work this -morning will settle everything. Perry, Mr. and Mrs. -Dunbar, Sim Pierce, old Nomad and Little Cayuse are -going to start on horseback inside of two hours for the -place where the trail forks to go to Hackamore and to -your place. They will wait for Phelps and me at the -forks. You, Benner, are to ride with the party from -the Star-A.”</p> - -<p>Benner was intensely interested.</p> - -<p>“Have you discovered something of importance?” he -asked.</p> - -<p>“I have—something of the utmost importance; something -that will spell peace on the Brazos.”</p> - -<p>“Something that will clear me of any suspicion regarding -the taking off of Ace Hawkins?”</p> - -<p>“I believe so.”</p> - -<p>“And clear Nate Dunbar?”</p> - -<p>“Undoubtedly.”</p> - -<p>“What is it?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll show you later. Meanwhile, be prepared for a big -surprise.”</p> - -<p>“You’ve got me all worked up,” muttered Benner, with -a low laugh.</p> - -<p>“Everybody will be worked up before we are through.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_281">[281]</span> -It’s the biggest thing, Benner, that ever happened in this -Brazos country.”</p> - -<p>“Why are you taking Phelps along?”</p> - -<p>“Because he must hear what we hear, and see what we -see. That’s of the utmost importance.”</p> - -<p>“Can’t I go to Phelps’ ranch with you?” suggested -Benner. “I know Hank pretty well, and, if he gets ugly, -perhaps I could help you handle him.”</p> - -<p>“No, Benner,” answered the scout firmly, “I prefer to -go alone. You ride with Perry, Dunbar and my pards. -They have nothing but friendly feelings for you now. -Have your cowboys watch the Star-A ranch until we get -back there.”</p> - -<p>“Just as you say. I’m a good soldier, Cody, and know -how to obey my superior officer. Is that all?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“Adios, then.”</p> - -<p>Benner wheeled his horse and rode back along the trail -to the Star-A. The scout spurred into faster gait, and -laid a rapid course in the direction of the H-P ranch.</p> - -<p>Benner turned to look back at him.</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t be in Phelps’ shoes for a bushel of dinero,” -thought Benner, “if he tries to do what Buffalo Bill don’t -want him to.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_282">[282]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXVIII">CHAPTER XXVIII.<br /> -<span class="fs70">IN THE ENEMY’S CAMP.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>From rising ground, where Buffalo Bill had left his -pards on the previous occasion when he had gone alone -into Phelps’ hangout, the scout surveyed the situation at -the hostile ranch.</p> - -<p>Everything was quiet about the buildings, but it was -the brooding quiet that oftentimes precedes a violent -storm. Cowboys passed and re-passed slowly under the -scout’s eyes, but they seemed to avoid the log house in -which Phelps made his headquarters.</p> - -<p>In that building, no doubt, lay Jake Phelps, the mysteriously -injured relative of Hank Phelps. It might be -that the building was being avoided by the cowboys, on -the injured man’s account.</p> - -<p>Without lingering long over his survey, the scout -started Bear Paw and rode down the hill up which he had -once raced with the H-P cowboys tight after him. He -hoped that performance was not again to be repeated.</p> - -<p>No one appeared to molest him. He was seen, nevertheless, -and several cowboys, out behind Hank Phelps’ -quarters, gathered in an excited group.</p> - -<p>Leaving Bear Paw at a little distance from the log -house, Buffalo Bill dismounted and moved briskly forward -on foot.</p> - -<p>Before he had come within a dozen feet of the front -door of the house, Phelps himself appeared in the opening. -He seemed, for a moment, as though loath to believe -his eyes.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_283">[283]</span></p> - -<p>Recovering himself quickly, Phelps stepped through -the door and faced the scout. Rage was growing in -Phelps’ face.</p> - -<p>“What do you want here?”</p> - -<p>“I want you, Phelps,” answered the scout.</p> - -<p>A harsh laugh escaped the cattleman’s lips.</p> - -<p>“You called on me once before,” said he, “and you got -away that time. You’ll not be so lucky now, Buffalo -Bill.”</p> - -<p>“You mean that you will try to prevent me from going -away when I get ready to leave?” asked the scout calmly.</p> - -<p>“That’s what I mean.”</p> - -<p>“Why will you do that?”</p> - -<p>“Don’t you try to play lame-duck with me!” answered -Phelps fiercely. “You can do it with Lige Benner, but -I’m cut out of different cloth. You’ve been helping that -young whelp over at the Star-A. What’s come of it? -Jake lies in there”—he waved an angry hand at the -house behind him—“unconscious and fighting for life. -That’s what’s come of your work on the Brazos. But -you’ve done more, Buffalo Bill!”</p> - -<p>Phelps was rapidly lashing himself into uncontrollable -fury.</p> - -<p>“What more have I done?” returned the scout, still -calmly.</p> - -<p>“When Jake and that cur at the Star-A quarreled in -Hackamore, you sent Jake out of town; then, by thunder, -you sent Dunbar after him! You’re at the bottom of the -whole villainous business! You set Dunbar on to steal -the pay-roll money, and——”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t go any further with that, if I were you,” -cut in the scout significantly. “I reckon you understand -that I’ve heard about enough in that strain.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_284">[284]</span></p> - -<p>“You’ll hear all I’m going to tell!” stormed Phelps. -“I’m on my own ground here, Cody! This isn’t the Star-A -ranch. You haven’t got Benner and his outfit to stand -between you and trouble. You were a fool to come here -like this. But that’s your fault. Now that you’re here, -you’ll take what I’m going to give you. I’ll square up -for Jake!”</p> - -<p>Jumping back, Phelps gave vent to a furious yell. At -the same moment he jerked a revolver from his hip.</p> - -<p>The cowboys, out behind the house, heard the yell, and -came rushing around in front. One of them carried a -rope.</p> - -<p>But, if Phelps had been quick in executing his manœuvre, -the scout had been even quicker. Seizing the angry -man’s arm, the scout wrestled with him for possession of -the revolver.</p> - -<p>It was a critical moment for Buffalo Bill. He was -fighting the cattleman on his own ground, and cowboys -were rushing to the scene.</p> - -<p>But the scout secured the revolver. That was the main -thing. Throwing his left arm around Phelps’ throat, the -scout backed against the log wall of the building, keeping -the cattle baron in front of him by main strength. With -his right hand he pushed out the revolver over Phelps’ -squirming shoulder.</p> - -<p>“Steady, you men!” called the scout, recognizing Prouther -as one of the six cowboys. “I didn’t come here to -make war, but to make peace. Leave us alone and all -will be well. Try to stir up trouble, and a good many -things will go wrong.”</p> - -<p>“Take him, confound you!” roared Phelps, fighting for -his freedom and half strangled by the arm around his -throat.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_285">[285]</span></p> - -<p>The cowboys appeared undecided. At this moment two -other actors appeared on the scene. They came from -somewhere within the house and stepped hastily through -the door.</p> - -<p>One of them was Bloom, the sheriff. The other was -the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Ah!” came from Bloom. “So the chivalrous Mr. Cody -has paid us a visit, has he? In his usual manner he has -begun to make things lively. Go ’way, you men,” and -Bloom turned and waved the cowboys off. “I reckon -Phelps and I can look after this Cody person.”</p> - -<p>The cowboys retreated to a distance. The scout released -Phelps, but kept his revolver.</p> - -<p>“Tut, tut!” cried the doctor. “This here ain’t accordin’ -to Hoyle. We’re gents all, so why the nation should we -act like a pack of rowdies? Hank Phelps, you ca’m -down. I got the highest respect for Buffalo Bill, an’ I -know he ain’t here for no wrong purpose. Bloom, don’t -be unmannerly. Confound it, can’t you two give Buffalo -Bill a chance to tell what he’s come here for?”</p> - -<p>Here was an unexpected aide in the person of the -doctor. The scout felt that he was indeed fortunate to -find the doctor at the house.</p> - -<p>“I’m not lookin’ at Buffalo Bill with the same eye as -you, doc,” grunted Bloom. “Him an’ me don’t hitch.”</p> - -<p>“That is regrettable,” said the doctor. “When people -can’t hitch, Bloom, it’s best to let each other alone.”</p> - -<p>“Why don’t Cody let me alone?” babbled Phelps. -“What does he come crowhopping around here for?”</p> - -<p>“That’s his nature,” sneered Bloom. “He makes it a -point to blow in where he ain’t wanted.”</p> - -<p>“If you’ll go in the house with me,” said the scout, -“I’ll tell you what I want in a few minutes.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_286">[286]</span></p> - -<p>“Invite him in, Hank,” suggested Bloom, “but walk -behind him.”</p> - -<p>“Oh, you fellers do make me all-fired tired,” grunted -the doctor. “Come in, Buffalo Bill. I’m gladder’n blazes -that I happen to be here.”</p> - -<p>The doctor returned into the house. Buffalo Bill followed -him, and the two others followed Buffalo Bill. -Once inside, the scout was not asked to be seated.</p> - -<p>“First, doctor,” said the scout, “I’d like to know how -Jake Phelps is coming along?”</p> - -<p>The doctor shook his head forebodingly.</p> - -<p>“He got a rap on the head that was some fierce,” said -he, “but it don’t seem to be a fracture. Yet, if it ain’t a -fracture, why don’t he corral his wits, open his eyes and -talk? He ain’t said a word since he was found in the -trail. I’ve done my best to bring him around, because -I know two words from Jake would do a hull lot o’ good. -He could tell us, right off the bat, who it was knocked -him out; then, without any guessin’, the law could get in -its work. Personally, I don’t stand for any such foolishness -as went on at the Star-A ranch last night. I’m a -law and order man, I am, and such doin’s look too much -like anarchy to suit me.”</p> - -<p>“What are Jake’s chances, doctor?”</p> - -<p>“Mebby slim, mebby good. I’m puzzled to beat four -of a kind. A few hours more ought to tell the story, -though, one way or the other.”</p> - -<p>“He was hit with a club?”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t say that.”</p> - -<p>“Or the butt of a revolver?”</p> - -<p>“I wouldn’t say that, either. He was hit, an’ laid out -senseless; but what it was hit him is more’n I can savvy.”</p> - -<p>“The blow was on the head, wasn’t it?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_287">[287]</span></p> - -<p>“Toby sure. It wouldn’t have grabbed his wits if it -hadn’t been on the head.”</p> - -<p>“Do you think that Nate Dunbar could have ridden up -behind Phelps and struck him a blow on the head with a -quirt handle?”</p> - -<p>“It wasn’t a quirt handle. I’m darned if I know what -it was, as I was jest sayin’. And I’ve been tellin’ both -Hank and Bloom that Nate Dunbar couldn’t have done -it, that Nate would have used the business end of a -shooter and not bothered with the thing—whatever it was—that -collided with Jake’s head. But they’re set in their -notions an’ won’t listen to reason.”</p> - -<p>“Dunbar did it!” cried Phelps.</p> - -<p>“He shore did!” agreed Bloom; “and Buffalo Bill sent -Nate Dunbar after Jake so’t he could do it.”</p> - -<p>“Bloom,” said the scout, “you’re a cur dog. As an -officer of the law, you should be trying to bring evil-doers -to justice and bring peace on the Brazos. But -you’re doing neither. All your energy is expended in -fomenting trouble and discord. But we’ll settle this matter -once and for all. You’ll know, presently, just what -happened to Jake. I invite you, and Phelps, and the doctor -to ride with me.”</p> - -<p>“It’s a trap!” yelped Bloom. “He’s layin’ for us, -Phelps.”</p> - -<p>“Hush your yaup!” cried the doctor, “or I’ll give you -somethin’ that’ll make you feel real bad. Phelps is going -with Buffalo Bill; so’m I; so’re you. Do you understand -me? As a man with the free and unrestricted right of -franchise, a man who voted for you for sheriff, you’re -going, Bloom, or I’ll see to it that you’re everlastingly -snowed under at the next election. Phelps is going because<span class="pagenum" id="Page_288">[288]</span> -I say so, and that’s why. Git your hosses. While -you’re about it, git mine. Vamos!”</p> - -<p>“You can boss Bloom,” answered Phelps, “but you can’t -boss me. I’m staying here, with Jake.”</p> - -<p>The doctor stepped to the door.</p> - -<p>“Prouther!” he called.</p> - -<p>“Hyer!” answered the voice of Prouther.</p> - -<p>“Get up Phelps’ hoss, and Bloom’s, and mine. We’re -goin’ to take a hossback ride through this beautiful morning -quiet. Pronto, boy, pronto!”</p> - -<p>“On the jump.”</p> - -<p>The doctor turned back, pulled a cigar from his pocket, -bit off the end and scratched a match.</p> - -<p>“Sorry I ain’t got another,” said he.</p> - -<p>“Look here, doc,” fussed Phelps, “you can’t handle me -like this.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t, hey?” returned the doctor, puffing at his -weed. “I’m doing it, Hank, and you say I can’t. Poof! -Why, if I wanted to, I could rope, down and tie you. -Buffalo Bill says he’s going to settle this mystery about -Jake.”</p> - -<p>“It ain’t any mystery,” scowled Bloom. “He’s fixed -up something to make it look as though Dunbar -didn’t——”</p> - -<p>There was a tramp of feet. The next moment, Buffalo -Bill had Bloom against the wall and was twisting his -fingers about his throat.</p> - -<p>“Say you didn’t mean that,” said the scout.</p> - -<p>The sheriff glared and stuttered.</p> - -<p>“Out with it!” went on the scout.</p> - -<p>“I—d-d-didn’t mean it——” gurgled Bloom.</p> - -<p>“That will do.” Buffalo Bill threw the sheriff from<span class="pagenum" id="Page_289">[289]</span> -him. “There’s a yellow streak in Bloom, doctor,” he -added, “that has to be handled just so.”</p> - -<p>“I’ve noticed it before,” agreed the doctor. “Bloom -means well—sometimes—but he’s got a poor way of -showing it—at all times. However, he ain’t such a bad -sheriff, where his personal likes and dislikes don’t get -tangled up with his duty. Don’t get sore, Bloom,” he -added, to the sheriff; “I felt like doing the same thing -to you when your mouth went off like that. Watch yourself, -man, or your tongue will do harm for you.”</p> - -<p>Bloom was angry. It happened, however, that the -doctor was a politician. Whatever the doctor said, in politics -in that county, was usually what the voters abided by. -Nothing was to be gained by rowing with the doctor.</p> - -<p>“I want to do my duty,” declared Bloom, caressing his -throat, “but I’ll be durn if I want to stand for Cody and -all his high and mighty purceedin’s. When he blows in -here and begins straightening things out on the Brazos, -does he come to me and ask my help? Nary. For all he -cared, the sheriff didn’t amount to a whoop. He just -went it himself.”</p> - -<p>“So there’s your grouch, is it?” grinned the doctor. -“Jealous! Jealous old sore-head! Cody’s doing things -and never asking you to chime in and help. Oh, gosh! -Well, what’s the odds so long as a good live man brings -order out of chaos? Makes the bird of peace wing -brightly up and down the river without molting a -feather? Puts all you cattlemen into harmony with each -other? Besides, it appears to me as though he’s asking -you to do something now, and you’re hanging out about -it. You travel with Hank and me, Bloom, or I’ll get -your scalp when you’re up for nomination next time. -That’s about as flat as I can make it.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_290">[290]</span></p> - -<p>At that moment, Prouther came up with the horses.</p> - -<p>“All aboard!” called the doctor, picking up his hat from -a chair. “Here’s where we ride with the king of scouts, -and find out what he’s got to show us. I’ll bet a pill -against a dose of salts it’s worth while. Come, gentlemen!”</p> - -<p>“Will Jake be all right?” asked Phelps anxiously.</p> - -<p>“We can’t help him any by staying,” answered the -doctor. “Maybe if we clear out he’ll come around while -we’re gone. I’ll have Prouther come in and sit with him.”</p> - -<p>The doctor hurried into a rear room for a moment, and -then reappeared.</p> - -<p>“Same’s usual,” said he, wrinkling his forehead perplexedly. -“Ain’t it fierce that I can’t do a thing? Well, -anyhow, over the hills and far away with Scout Cody. -Chirk up, gents! I feel as though something important -was about to happen. Oh, my prophetic soul!”</p> - -<p>The doctor was a queer one. The scout had never seen -much of him before, but he was wonderfully taken with -the old fellow. He was an able aide in this emergency, -that was certain.</p> - -<p>The three men went out and mounted. The doctor -kept sharp eyes on Phelps. He seemed perfectly sure of -Bloom and gave him scant attention.</p> - -<p>“How long will we be gone, Buffalo Bill?” asked the -doctor.</p> - -<p>“Two or three hours,” answered the scout; “I can’t say -exactly.”</p> - -<p>“I can’t go away from here for two or three hours,” -expostulated Phelps.</p> - -<p>“Tut!” returned the doctor, “you can stay away six, if -necessary, in order to get to the bottom of these mysteries. -It’s time, well spent, Hank. Prouther,” he added<span class="pagenum" id="Page_291">[291]</span> -to the cowboy who held his horse while he mounted, -“go in and sit with Jake till we come back. You won’t -have to do anything but stay with him. He’s not very -good company, Jake ain’t, but I’m hoping for the best. -Go on, Prouther.”</p> - -<p>Prouther looked toward Phelps to have the order confirmed. -Phelps nodded, half sullenly. Meanwhile, the scout had been -mounting Bear Paw.</p> - -<p>“Which way, Buffalo Bill?” called the doctor.</p> - -<p>“Up the hill,” answered the scout. “We’ll ride, first, -for the forks of the trail, where it separates for the Circle-B -and for Hackamore.”</p> - -<p>Bloom and Phelps evidently did not care to ride beside -the scout. They started on ahead, leaving the doctor to -follow with Buffalo Bill.</p> - -<p>“What do you expect to prove by this little junket, -my friend?” asked the doctor, as they rode.</p> - -<p>“I expect to prove whether or not Lige Benner had -anything to do with the shooting of Ace Hawkins, for -one thing,” was the reply.</p> - -<p>“He didn’t—take it from me.”</p> - -<p>“I don’t think he did, either, but Benner himself is -anxious to have that point cleared up.”</p> - -<p>“Jerry, Lige’s brother,” mused the doctor, “is Lige’s -worst enemy. Lige has fired Jerry. Sent him to Houston, -with a couple of thousand and his blessing. He went -two days ago. Pity he ever came to the Circle-B at all. -Lige Benner is a pretty good sort of a fellow, Cody, -down at bottom.”</p> - -<p>“I believe that, too, after the way he stood by us at -the Star-A last night.”</p> - -<p>“What else do you expect to prove by this trip of -ours this morning?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_292">[292]</span></p> - -<p>“Nate Dunbar’s innocence in the matter of Jake’s injury.”</p> - -<p>“I had already gathered that. Anything more to be -brought out?”</p> - -<p>“Well, yes. For instance, we’re to get back the pay-roll -money and Jake’s saddle.”</p> - -<p>“Better and better. Go on. You delight me.”</p> - -<p>“And then, doctor,” said the scout, “we will prove how -Jake got his injury.”</p> - -<p>“Whoop!” tuned up the doctor. “I can’t begin to tell -you how glad I am that I’ve come. My friend, you’re a -man after my own heart. You do things. While the -trouble pot is boiling on the Brazos, you keep busy and -find out the reason—then settle the reason. There is -much cause for rejoicing m the fact that you paid the -Brazos country a visit, just when you did. No man but -you could have laid hold here and man handled this -emergency in the correct way. I take off my hat to you.”</p> - -<p>The scout laughed.</p> - -<p>“You’ll have to take it off to some of my pards, this -trip,” said he.</p> - -<p>Bloom and Phelps, who had been galloping at a good -pace along the trail, suddenly drew rein.</p> - -<p>“I reckon this is as far as I’m going,” declared Phelps.</p> - -<p>“Now, Hank!” protested the doctor indulgently, -“what’s broke loose now?”</p> - -<p>“Here’s the trap I told you about,” snapped Bloom. -“Look ahead, there!”</p> - -<p>The forks of the trail were in sight. A group of riders -were in plain view.</p> - -<p>“A trap, eh?” jeered the doctor. “Why, Hattie Dunbar -is one of that outfit. Not afraid of Mrs. Dunbar, are -you, Bloom? And there’s Lige Benner, too, on my soul!!<span class="pagenum" id="Page_293">[293]</span> -Why, you’re old friends of Benner’s, both of you. If he -can be riding in peace and amity with Mr. and Mrs. -Dunbar and Perry, you fellows ought not to object. And -is that Sim Pierce? It is. Sim’s everybody’s friend. Old -Nomad is with the lot, and the little Piute Indian. What’s -to be feared from that trap, Bloom?”</p> - -<p>The sheriff swore under his breath. He had no logical -answer ready.</p> - -<p>“How much farther have we got to go from the -forks?” demanded Phelps of the scout.</p> - -<p>“About a mile.”</p> - -<p>“Ride on, Hank,” urged the doctor. “The quicker we -ride, the quicker we’ll be going back to the H-P ranch -and Jake. Don’t waste time like this.”</p> - -<p>Phelps rattled his spurs and made off. Bloom rushed -on beside him.</p> - -<p>“Waugh!” yelled the old trapper, waving his hat as -those from the H-P ranch came up; “blamed ef ye didn’t -do ther trick. Got Sawbones, too, an’ our friend, the -sheriff. Whoop!”</p> - -<p>There were no greetings exchanged between Phelps, -Bloom and the other party. The doctor was gay and -civil with all, and especially with Mrs. Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Now, then, amigos,” called the scout, “follow my lead. -It won’t be long before you get developments.”</p> - -<p>The scout set the pace, and behind him came the -strangely assorted party. The course carried the riders -along that part of the trail which the scout and the trapper -had covered on the preceding day when riding to -Hackamore. They galloped around the base of the hill, -on for a hundred yards, then swerved to pass into a gully -between two uplifts.</p> - -<p>“I wonder whatever we’re comin’ in hyar fer?” muttered<span class="pagenum" id="Page_294">[294]</span> -Nomad. “Ef I had ther sense of er locoed steer, -mebbyso I could figger out which way the wind lies. -But I kain’t. I’ll hev ter wait till somebody drors a diagram, -an’ explains in words o’ one syllable.”</p> - -<p>A little way through the gully the party came upon a -ruinous adobe shack. In front of the door stood Wild -Bill Hickok.</p> - -<p>“Hello!” called Hickok. “You’re bringing quite a -party, Pard Cody. Come in.”</p> - -<p>“Are we in time?” asked the scout.</p> - -<p>“Just about,” was the answer.</p> - -<p>“Dismount, friends,” said Buffalo Bill. “Little Cayuse -will take care of the horses while we’re in the ’dobe.”</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_295">[295]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXIX">CHAPTER XXIX.<br /> -<span class="fs70">RED STEVE.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>The surprises began for old Nomad with this unexpected -meeting with Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“How’d ye know Hickok was hyar, Buffler?” the trapper -asked, as the party moved in the direction of the -adobe.</p> - -<p>“Wild Bill came to the Star-A ranch last night,” answered -the scout, “and I went away with him.”</p> - -<p>“Waugh! So ye was with Wild Bill when ye was -absent from the ranch, hey? Has he diskivered somethin’?”</p> - -<p>“He has.”</p> - -<p>“Whar’s ther baron?”</p> - -<p>“We’ll see the baron later, Nick.”</p> - -<p>The adobe shack had long been abandoned. It was -scarcely more than a shelter at best.</p> - -<p>Buffalo Bill and his party were ushered into the hovel -by Wild Bill. On a blanket, at one side of the only -room the hut contained, lay a man groaning with pain and -with a bandage about his forehead.</p> - -<p>“Red Steve!” gasped Lige Benner, pushing eagerly -forward.</p> - -<p>“I don’t care who the nation he is,” growled the doctor, -“he’s a man that needs attention.”</p> - -<p>“He’s already had attention, doc,” said Wild Bill.</p> - -<p>“Not professional,” and the doctor’s critical eye surveyed -the rough bandage. “Why wasn’t a doctor called<span class="pagenum" id="Page_296">[296]</span> -before?” he demanded, fixing an accusing eye on Wild -Bill.</p> - -<p>“Because Red Steve wouldn’t have it. He swore he’d -kill himself if I went for a doctor. You see, Steve has -something on his mind. He was afraid he’d be landed -for the shooting of Ace Hawkins. I didn’t dare tell him -he was to have visitors this morning—but he’s got to a -point where he don’t much care what happens to him. -He’s got his ticket, friends.”</p> - -<p>The doctor went down on his knees and began an examination.</p> - -<p>“How did he get his ticket?” he demanded.</p> - -<p>“The horns of Red Thunderbolt did the business for -Steve. When I found him he was about gone. I did what -I could to keep him alive, and, when I got the chance, I -rode to the Star-A ranch. There were a lot of men -hanging around the ranch, and I hadn’t a notion what was -tip, so I sneaked in and sent Cayuse for Pard Cody.”</p> - -<p>“Sufferin’ twisters!” exclaimed old Nomad. “Say, Buffler, -was Red Steve the feller we heard yell, back thar in -the trail yisterday? Is he the feller thet fired the shot, -then dug out while we was mixin’ things with Red Thunderbolt?”</p> - -<p>“He’s the man, Nick,” answered the scout. “Red Steve -was badly hurt, but he managed to get into this gully -and into this ruined ’dobe. If we’d known who he was,” -the scout added, “we might have found him long ago.”</p> - -<p>“Blame’ quare how things turns out some times,” muttered -Nomad.</p> - -<p>Red Steve’s eyes were closed, and he seemed scarcely -to breathe. Only a groan, now and then coming through -his tense lips, gave evidence that he was still alive.</p> - -<p>The doctor looked up and shook his head.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_297">[297]</span></p> - -<p>“Red Steve is a whole lot nearer the Great Divide -than what Jake is,” announced the doctor.</p> - -<p>“He’s got to talk before he goes,” cried Benner; “he’s -got to stay here long enough to do me justice.”</p> - -<p>“He must say something for Nate, too,” put in Mrs. -Dunbar. “He must tell about the attack on Jake Phelps -and clear Nate. Doctor! Do what you can! He must -talk!”</p> - -<p>In their excitement and apprehension, those interested -in what Red Steve had to say showed themselves in -rather a merciless light. The doctor raised his hand.</p> - -<p>“I haven’t my medicine case with me,” said he, “but if -we had a little liquor——”</p> - -<p>He turned and peered at Bloom. The latter, somewhat -reluctantly, drew a flask from his pocket. The doctor, -lifting Red Steve’s head with one arm, pressed the -flask to his lips. A swallow of the fiery liquor gurgled -down the desperado’s throat.</p> - -<p>“Get him to talk about Nate first,” said Perry.</p> - -<p>“It isn’t necessary for him to say anything about Nate, -Perry,” returned the scout. “We’ll prove Nate’s innocence -in another way. Anyhow, from the very facts of -the case, it’s certain Red Steve had nothing to do with -what happened to Jake Phelps. Red Steve was wounded -by Red Thunderbolt several hours before that attack was -made on Jake. That eliminates Red Steve.”</p> - -<p>A broken cry escaped Mrs. Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Cheer up, Mrs. Dunbar!” said the scout reassuringly. -“Nate will be freed of all suspicion absolutely. Just be -patient.”</p> - -<p>“I said all along,” scowled Phelps, “that Red Steve -wasn’t the one who made that attack on Jake.”</p> - -<p>“So did I,” seconded the sheriff.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_298">[298]</span></p> - -<p>“But you said it was Nate, you fellows,” put in the -scout, “and that’s where you were wrong.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll believe it when you prove it,” said Phelps, with -a glaring look at Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“Hist!” breathed the doctor.</p> - -<p>All eyes turned to Red Steve. He was staring upward -into the doctor’s face. It was plain to every one that -he had not many minutes to live—perhaps not many seconds.</p> - -<p>“Steve!” called Lige Benner, bending down. “Don’t -you know me?”</p> - -<p>“Share I know ye,” was the gruff response—as gruff, -at least, as a feeble voice could make it.</p> - -<p>“Tell these people,” went on Benner, “who it was shot -Ace Hawkins!”</p> - -<p>“It won’t do me any hurt ter tell that, I reckon,” answered -Red Steve stumblingly. “Ye got it out o’ me at -the ranch, Benner, an’ ye turned me adrift. It was yer -fiend of a brother that put me up ter it. Jerry Benner -said fer me ter do it. He didn’t think Hawkins was actin’ -right, Jerry didn’t. He thought Hawkins was playin’ -double with him an’ Lige. Lige said he wouldn’t stand -fer no shootin’, but Jerry says fer me ter go ahead an’ -never mind Lige. So I did, an’ it was me bored Hawkins.”</p> - -<p>“And I didn’t have a thing to do with it?” demanded -Benner.</p> - -<p>“Nary a thing. Ye didn’t know it was done till ye -found it out from Jerry. Then ye fired me. I expected -ye would send me ter Hackamore, an’ hey me put in the -lockup, an’ tried, so I hoofed it away from ther Circle-B. -Then—then I met that ther horned killer in the road. I -was on foot an’ couldn’t git away. He come at me—an’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_299">[299]</span> -right thar’s whar I got my gruel. I heered some’un in -the trail behind me, an’ I was afeared it mout be some’un -chasin’ arter me, so I crawled inter the gully, an’ ter -this place.”</p> - -<p>Red Steve sank back weakly. Once more Bloom’s -flask was used, and he revived a little.</p> - -<p>“Wild Bill Hickok,” went on Red Steve painfully, “has -done a heap fer me sence he located me hyer last night. -He ain’t got no cause ter think much o’ me, but he done -all a feller could ter bring me back ter y’arth.”</p> - -<p>“I wanted to save you for the law, Steve,” said Wild -Bill.</p> - -<p>“I know what ye wanted, but—I—fooled—” He -paused and pulled himself together with a fierce effort. -“I fooled the law,” he finished. “Allers—allers knowed -I—I would.”</p> - -<p>Then, again, he dropped back. The doctor’s fingers -touched his pulse.</p> - -<p>“Red Steve has taken the One-way Trail, friends,” -said the doctor gravely. “I hold that there’s something -good in the worst of us—even in Red Steve. Let us hope -that there was enough good in him to help the poor fellow -where he’s going now.”</p> - -<p>The doctor turned and went out of the hut. Wild Bill -gently pulled a fold of the blanket over the face on the -floor.</p> - -<p>“I’ll send some of my boys from the Star-A to put him -away,” said Lige Benner.</p> - -<p>“We’re not ready to go to the Star-A ranch yet, Benner,” -remarked the scout.</p> - -<p>“How much longer will we be?”</p> - -<p>“Not much.”</p> - -<p>“Red Thunderbolt scores another victim,” said Perry.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_300">[300]</span></p> - -<p>“I wonder when that maverick will finally be put out of -commission?”</p> - -<p>“Perhaps that question can be answered if you come -with me, Perry,” suggested the scout. “You’ll go along, -Hickok, and show us the place,” he added. “I was there -last night, but it might take a little time for me to find it -to-day.”</p> - -<p>“There’s nothing more to keep me here,” said Wild -Bill.</p> - -<p>Thoughtfully, the party left the hut. Hank Phelps -seemed in more tractable mood. The tragic end of Red -Steve’s life story had wrought a deep impression.</p> - -<p>“How’re you goin’ to prove Nate Dunbar didn’t get -the best of Jake?” asked Bloom of the scout.</p> - -<p>“By a very simple method,” was the answer, “but it will -be as conclusive as it is simple.”</p> - -<p>“Have your pards nabbed the feller that done it?”</p> - -<p>“They have.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon you’ve got hold o’ some’un who’s willing to -shoulder the blame jest to clear Nate Dunbar of——”</p> - -<p>The scout whirled in his tracks and gave Bloom a -square look. Bloom’s words died on his lips immediately.</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” said the scout, “step carefully, Bloom. -We’ve had one row over your recklessness in using language. -Our next row will be more serious. Mount, -friends,” he went on to the rest. “I’ll not be detaining -you much longer.”</p> - -<p>They all took to their saddles again. This time Wild -Bill took the lead. The course they traversed was back -into the trail, then off toward the timbered bottoms of -the Brazos.</p> - -<p>“We’ve had er s’prise er two,” observed the old trapper<span class="pagenum" id="Page_301">[301]</span> -to the doctor, “an’ now thar’s more comin’. Got any -idee what we’ll find next, doc?”</p> - -<p>“Not the slightest, my friend,” was the reply, “but if -the two Bills are back of it we can rest assured that it -will be worth while, amply worth while.”</p> - -<p>The first sign that the party had of their proximity to -their destination was given by a voice very familiar to -the pards.</p> - -<p>“Dis vay, people! Here iss vere you vant to go! I -peen here waiting so long as I can’t tell. Dis vay, -bards!”</p> - -<p>The baron showed himself in front of a copse of -bushes. He was on foot, and seemed to have been on -guard. But what was he guarding?</p> - -<p>“Howdy, baron!” said old Nomad. “You an’ Wild Bill -appear ter hev been doin’ a few things.”</p> - -<p>“You bed my life!” jubilated the baron, “aber ve ditn’t -know how mooch ve hat tone ondil Puffalo Pill came -oudt dis vay lashdt night und toldt us. Ach, Mrs. Tunpar, -I vas so habby dot I vas aple to helup!”</p> - -<p>The baron made his nicest bow to Mrs. Dunbar—he -had always an eye for the fair—and the lady favored -him with a smile in return.</p> - -<p>“What have you done, baron?” she asked.</p> - -<p>“Puffalo Pill vill show you dot. He knows aboudt it.”</p> - -<p>Again the riders dismounted, and left their animals -with Cayuse; then they followed Wild Bill, Buffalo Bill, -and the baron behind the screen of bushes to a slope -leading down to the water’s edge.</p> - -<p>The slope itself was clear of bushes and trees, but at -the top of it were two large sycamores, growing quite -close together. Tightly wedged between the trees was -a broken and twisted object which had once been<span class="pagenum" id="Page_302">[302]</span> -saddle. To the saddle a pair of saddlebags were attached. -The bags were buckled tightly, and seemed not -to have suffered very materially.</p> - -<p>But it was not the saddle nor the bags that aroused -wonder in the minds of the spectators over the mysterious -ways of fate. A stout rope was attached to the -saddle, while a second rope was writhed around one of -the sycamores, one coil wedged over the loose end in -such a manner as to make the rope fast. Both ropes—the -one from the tree and the one from the saddle—passed -between the two trees and down the slope. They -ended at the carcass of a steer. At the end of each -rope was a tightly drawn noose—a noose that encircled -the steer’s head at the root of the wide-branching horns.</p> - -<p>The steer’s head was drawn grewsomely backward, so -that both ropes were taut as fiddle strings between the -trees and the horns.</p> - -<p>It was a most amazing situation—one to be understood -only by a sorting of the details.</p> - -<p>“Great guns!” exclaimed Lige Benner. “Why, that’s -Red Thunderbolt.”</p> - -<p>“The same,” said Wild Bill. “Red Thunderbolt, the -man-killing maverick. He has Dusenberry’s life and -Red Steve’s charged up against him.”</p> - -<p>“Who killed Red Thunderbolt?” queried Perry. -“Was it you, Wild Bill, or the baron?”</p> - -<p>“Neither of us,” answered Hickok. “Red Thunderbolt -wasn’t made to bite the dust by means of a bullet. -Can’t you see what happened? He rushed through between -those trees, trailing two ropes, one with a saddle -attached; the saddle wedged against the tree trunks, -and the other rope twisted around one of the sycamores. -Red Thunderbolt charged down the slope. He was<span class="pagenum" id="Page_303">[303]</span> -brought up short and thrown, with the result that he -broke his neck.”</p> - -<p>Exclamations of wonder came from those who had -just reached the scene. Even Bloom had something to -say about the queerness of it all.</p> - -<p>“It don’t seem possible, not at all possible,” said the -doctor, “and yet, friends, we have the proof plainly before -our eyes. Truth, they say, is stranger than fiction. -I’m beginning to believe it.”</p> - -<p>“There’s also a saying, doctor,” said the scout, “that -truth, crushed to earth, will rise again. By this accident -to Red Thunderbolt, several things are proved. That -loose rope—the one whose end is wrapped around the -sycamore—belongs to me. I dropped it over Red Thunderbolt’s -horns yesterday on the trail. When the steer -got to the end of the rope, he jerked it away from my -saddle and went on.”</p> - -<p>“But where did the other rope come from?” asked -Perry.</p> - -<p>“Phelps,” said the scout, turning on the cattleman, “I -wish you’d examine that smashed saddle wedged between -the trees.”</p> - -<p>“No need for me to examine it,” answered Phelps. -“I’ve already recognized it, Buffalo Bill—not only the -saddle, but the saddlebags, as well. They’re Jake’s.”</p> - -<p>“The saddle and saddlebags he took with him when -he went to Hackamore after the pay-roll money?”</p> - -<p>“Yes.”</p> - -<p>“You’re positive of that, are you?”</p> - -<p>“Of course I am. There can’t be any mistake.”</p> - -<p>“Very good. Now, let me sketch for you, very briefly, -what happened to Jake Phelps. On his way home from -town he encountered Red Thunderbolt. The maverick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_304">[304]</span> -was still trailing the rope he had stolen from me. Very -likely the steer charged Jake. Red Thunderbolt must -have been in a killing mood after his experience with -Red Steve, Nomad, and me yesterday. Jake didn’t get -out of the way—perhaps he couldn’t. He had only a -revolver.</p> - -<p>“Of course, a revolver is not very good artillery for -attacking a veteran maverick like Red Thunderbolt. Jake, -very foolishly, instead of taking to his heels and trying -to make his escape, used his rope. He made a good cast, -for, as you see, his noose dropped right over mine. -Then, when Red Thunderbolt got to the end of the rope, -the saddle cinches broke, and the saddle and saddlebags -were stripped away. Jake was unhorsed, and quite likely -got a bad tumble. The steer charged him, and one of -the steer’s horns inflicted that peculiar bruise on Jake’s -head—the injury which suggested that a club or some -other blunt instrument had been used.”</p> - -<p>The doctor threw up his hands.</p> - -<p>“Holy mackerel!” he cried; “no wonder I couldn’t -figure out what it was that had played hob with Jake. -This is certainly the queerest thing that ever happened -on the banks of the Brazos. Every detail of it is queer, -and the farther you look into it the queerer it becomes. -Buffalo Bill,” and here he faced the scout, “you and -your pards have given this cattle country something to -talk about for many a month to come.”</p> - -<p>“Do you grasp the logic of these events, Phelps?” -queried the scout, giving his attention to the H-P -rancher. “Are you willing to admit that circumstances, -as we find them here, prove Nate Dunbar’s innocence?”</p> - -<p>“I don’t know what to think,” mumbled Phelps.</p> - -<p>“He don’t know what to think!” mimicked the doctor.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_305">[305]</span> -“Say, Hank, if you’ve got brains why don’t you use -’em? Here’s a chance for you to recede gracefully from -the fool position you’ve occupied ever since Jake was -hurt. What are you going to do about it?”</p> - -<p>“I’m going to take the facts as I find them,” replied -Phelps. “But, first, I’m going to see what’s in those -saddlebags.”</p> - -<p>“That’s right,” approved Buffalo Bill. “I was careful -to instruct the baron and Wild Bill not to let a thing be -touched. Everything here is just as they found it. Go -ahead and look through the saddlebags.”</p> - -<p>Phelps went to the broken and twisted saddle, and cut -the saddlebags away. Then he unbuckled the stout -straps, and drew forth a canvas bag full of jingling yellow -wealth. Untying the bag, he looked into it.</p> - -<p>“The gold is here,” said he. “It’s not necessary to -count it. I’m willing to concede that the bag is just as -it was when Jake tucked it away in the bags.”</p> - -<p>“Then you’re satisfied?” asked the scout.</p> - -<p>“I am—entirely so.”</p> - -<p>“Now say you’ve made a fool of yourself,” counseled -the doctor, “and also thank Buffalo Bill and Benner for -keeping your men from bringing shame and disgrace on -the cattle country last night.”</p> - -<p>“I was a little hasty,” acknowledged Phelps, “and I’m -sorry I took the attitude I did; still, I don’t see how I -could have thought any differently, considering the circumstances.”</p> - -<p>“What about you, Bloom?” asked the scout. “Haven’t -you got anything to say about this?”</p> - -<p>“Not a thing,” answered the sheriff sourly.</p> - -<p>“Oh, that’s Bloom for you!” cried the doctor sarcastically.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_306">[306]</span> -“His yellow streak is cropping out again. -What’s wrong with this evidence, Bloom?”</p> - -<p>“It could have been manufactured,” growled Bloom, -with an uneasy look in the scout’s direction.</p> - -<p>“Sure it could!” taunted the doctor. “Wild Bill and -the baron could have caught Red Thunderbolt, broken -the steer’s neck, and then fixed all this up. But where -did they get the saddle and the saddlebags? I reckon -they’re the ones who stole them from Jake, aren’t they? -Say, Bloom, you’re the limit. If I didn’t think such a -terrible lot of your family, I’d come over there and kick -you down the slope and into the river. He’s got a fine -family,” the doctor explained to those around him. “I -brought his boy through the measles last year. Fine -boy, too. Nothing like the sheriff.”</p> - -<p>“I believe what my judgment tells me to believe,” cried -Bloom on the defensive.</p> - -<p>“Your judgment is a fearful and a wonderful thing, -Bloom. I’m glad not many people are equipped with the -same sort. I guess, friends,” he went on, “that there’s -nothing more to be gained here. Nate Dunbar has been -proved innocent of the trouble that happened to Jake -Phelps; Lige Benner has been cleared of every suspicion -of complicity in what happened to Ace Hawkins; and -Buffalo Bill and pards have brought peace and good will -to the Brazos range. I reckon that’s enough. Suppose -we ride? I want to get back to the H-P outfit and see -how Jake’s getting along.”</p> - -<p>The scout left Nomad and Cayuse with Wild Bill and -the baron. They were to get the scout’s rope and Red -Thunderbolt’s hide. There was a reward of one thousand -dollars out for the maverick, and the baron was -laying his plans to file a request for the money.</p> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_307">[307]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_XXX">CHAPTER XXX.<br /> -<span class="fs70">CONCLUSION.</span></h2> -</div> - - -<p>On the way back to the Star-A ranch, close to which -those from Phelps’ place would have to ride, a scurry of -dust in the road claimed the attention of the riders.</p> - -<p>“Mebbyso,” remarked old Nomad, “trouble’s goin’ te -bust through thet cloud o’ dust. Pard Buffler an’ compadres -don’t no more’n git time ter breathe arter one -shake-up than another hits ’em. Who’s thet shackin’ -this-a-way?”</p> - -<p>When the form of the galloping horseman emerged -from the cloud, the man was recognized as Prouther.</p> - -<p>“Something’s happened to Jake!” exclaimed Phelps, -fearing the worst.</p> - -<p>“Don’t lose your nerve, Hank, till you hear what’s -happened to him,” cautioned the doctor. “I’m wondering -how Prouther was able to guess where we were.”</p> - -<p>When he came close, Prouther jerked his horse back -on its haunches.</p> - -<p>“Waal, here ye aire!” he exclaimed. “Didn’t reckon -I could spot ye, but I had a notion ye rode over ter the -Star-A ranch, seein’ as how Buffler Bill was with ye. -So I shot along in this direction. Ye wasn’t at the -Star-A, but them Circle-B men reckoned ye was some -place over hyer. So hyer I come, an’ hyer ye aire. I -reckon thar’s been a mistake, Hank.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon there has,” said the doctor dryly, “several -mistakes. Why did you leave Jake? Didn’t I tell you -to stay with him?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_308">[308]</span></p> - -<p>“Waal, doc,” said Prouther, “he come to.”</p> - -<p>“Whoop!” jubilated the doctor. “He came to, eh? -Then he’ll pull through. That was all I was waiting for. -Was he rational?”</p> - -<p>“Meanin’ which?” asked Prouther innocently.</p> - -<p>“Dunderhead! Was he in his right senses when he -woke up?”</p> - -<p>“He was. It’s what he said as brung me hyer at sich -a clip.”</p> - -<p>“What did he say?”</p> - -<p>“He allowed it was Red Thunderbolt as made him all -the trouble.”</p> - -<p>“Ha! Better late than never. This is right from -headquarters. Bloom! Do you hear that, Bloom?”</p> - -<p>Bloom heard it, but he made no comments.</p> - -<p>“What else did Jake say?” asked Phelps eagerly.</p> - -<p>“Said he was ridin’ fer home when Red Thunderbolt -charged him,” went on Prouther; “he said Nate Dunbar -didn’t have nothin’ ter do with it. Jake said he tried ter -rope Thunderbolt, an’ the steer galloped on with his -saddle an’ saddlebags, leaving Jake on the ground. -Jake was some shook up, and he was climbin’ to his feet -an’ rubbin’ his eyes when he see Thunderbolt comin’ at -him full tilt. Thunderbolt landed. The sunshine was -blotted out fer Jake, an’ thet’s all he kin recollect until -he woke up, with me settin’ by him fannin’ him. I was -afeared,” Prouther added, “that Bloom might be doin’ -somethin’ with Dunbar. That’s why I pulled out ter find -you all.”</p> - -<p>“I reckon this case is double proof!” laughed the doctor. -“Say, Prouther, you were one of the crazy men -who came to the Star-A last night to ‘get’ Nate Dunbar. -Now how do you feel?”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_309">[309]</span></p> - -<p>“Meachin’,” answered Prouther promptly, “meachin’ as -sin. I’m a heap sorry for it all, Dunbar,” he added -sheepishly.</p> - -<p>“All’s well that ends well,” said the doctor. “Maybe, -if you cowpunchers are good from now on, Dunbar will -overlook that little play.”</p> - -<p>“You’re sure Jake will live now, are you, doc?” asked -Phelps.</p> - -<p>“Want me to sing it?” grunted the doctor. “Of course -I’m sure. He’ll be as well as ever in a week. The first -thing, after he’s up, you’ve got to make him do something.”</p> - -<p>“What’s that?”</p> - -<p>“Why, steer him over to the Star-A, and make him -shake hands with Dunbar.”</p> - -<p>“I’ll do it, doc, and I’ll begin by shaking hands with -Dunbar myself.”</p> - -<p>They had reached the point where the north and south -trail branched, the branch leading to the Star-A ranch.</p> - -<p>Phelps rode up to Dunbar, and offered his hand. Dunbar -lost no time in taking it. The hand grip went -around, Perry, Mrs. Dunbar, Buffalo Bill, and Benner all -coming in for their share of the reconciliation.</p> - -<p>“Peace on the Brazos from now henceforward, eh, -Phelps?” asked Benner.</p> - -<p>“Yes,” replied Phelps. “I’ve had enough of the squabbling.”</p> - -<p>“Same here. Red Thunderbolt’s out of the running, -too. I’ll hand five hundred over to Wild Bill and the -baron, if you will?”</p> - -<p>“I’ll send the money this afternoon.”</p> - -<p>“Bully! I’ll do the same. Thunderbolt wasn’t shot, -but it was the scout’s rope and Jake’s saddle that landed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_310">[310]</span> -him. The scout’s rope is good for my five hundred to -the baron.”</p> - -<p>“And the truth of this business, first brought out by -the help of that trailing saddle of Jake’s,” said Phelps, -“is worth five hundred to me.”</p> - -<p>“Then, truly,” chuckled the doctor, “all’s well that -ends well. When you’re in Hackamore next, Cody, come -and see me. I’d like to talk with you.”</p> - -<p>“You’ll see me, doctor,” answered the scout.</p> - -<p>“And I want you to pay me another visit at the H-P -ranch,” said Phelps. “I can promise you a different -welcome next time you come, Buffalo Bill.”</p> - -<p>“I doubt whether I shall have time.”</p> - -<p>“If he has any time,” put in Benner, “he’ll spend it -at the Circle-B.”</p> - -<p>“Not at all,” cried Dunbar, “he’ll spend all his time at -the Star-A.”</p> - -<p>“We’ll see about it later,” said the scout, and the party -separated.</p> - -<p>Phelps, Prouther, the doctor, and Bloom rode off -toward the H-P ranch, while the scout and the others -turned their horses into the branch trail.</p> - -<hr class="r30" /> - -<p>In front of the Star-A ranch, that night, the scout -and his pards sat long with the Star-A ranchers. It was -to be their last chat together, for in the early morning -Buffalo Bill and compadres were to fare toward Hackamore, -turning their backs permanently on the Brazos -country.</p> - -<p>“It has peen a mighdy valuple nighdt’s vork for -Hickok und me,” piped the baron, shaking a bag of gold. -“I ditn’t t’ink, ven Vild Pill und me vas following dose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_311">[311]</span> -dracks oof der feller on foot, dot ve should make fife -hundert each oudt oof der pitzness. Sooch,” added the -baron with great complaisance, “is vat dey call luck.”</p> - -<p>“It was a hard job we had, pards, all the same,” said -Wild Bill. “We found the steer first—tumbled over -those two ropes by pure accident. After we found the -steer, we went hunting for the man who owned the -saddle.”</p> - -<p>“Und mitoudt looking indo der sattlepags,” cut in the -baron.</p> - -<p>“It was an easy trail to follow—that one left by Red -Thunderbolt. The trailing saddle had gouged its way -over the earth, and any one could have taken that back -track. But we lost the gouge marks in the trail by that -gully. I was trying to pick them up when I found the -’dobe and Red Steve inside. That was enough for me. -I left the baron with Red Steve while I went to the -Star-A to tell Buffalo Bill, and when Pard Cody came -back with me we arranged that little surprise party. It -was a question whether Red Steve could last until the -scout got back with his party, but fortune favored us.”</p> - -<p>“I vas sent py der sgout to see dot nopody tampered -mit der lay-oudt vere Red T’underboldt was,” added the -baron. “Und dere ve vas ven ve vas foundt.”</p> - -<p>“It all worked out very nicely for Nate,” said Mrs. -Dunbar.</p> - -<p>“With the scout and his pards to help in the working -out, Hattie,” dropped in Perry.</p> - -<p>“We’ll none of us ever forget Buffalo Bill and his -pards,” declared Nate Dunbar, with much feeling.</p> - -<p>“And I’ve erbout made up my mind ter one thing,” -said old Nomad.</p> - -<p>“What’s that?” asked Wild Bill.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_312">[312]</span></p> - -<p>“Why,” chuckled the trapper, “I b’leeve thar’s more -excitement ter be had by a feller who’s huntin’ fer peace -than by a feller who’s huntin’ fer trouble. Hey, Buffler?”</p> - -<p>“In some places, perhaps,” answered the scout, “and -in some circumstances. But not as a general thing, -Nick.”</p> - -<p class="pfs90 p2 pb2">THE END.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>No. 103 of the <span class="smcap">Buffalo Bill Border Stories</span>, entitled, -“Buffalo Bill’s Big Surprise,” is a thrilling story of Indian -warfare, haunted ranches, and exciting adventure. Every -boy that loves the great scout will want to read this book.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p class="pfs150">WESTERN STORIES ABOUT</p> -</div> - -<p class="pfs240 bold">BUFFALO BILL</p> - -<p class="pfs180 bold">Price, Fifteen Cents</p> - -<p class="pfs135">Red-blooded Adventure Stories for Men</p> - -<hr class="r15d" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>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 Hickock, -General Custer, and a few other adventurous spirits, laid the -foundation of our great West.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -</div> - -<p class="pfs90 bold"><em>ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT</em></p> - -<hr class="fulld" /> - -<table class="autotable fs90" width="85%" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill, the Border King</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Raid</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Bravery</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Trump Card</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Pledge</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Vengeance</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Iron Grip</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Capture</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">9</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Danger Line</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">10</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Comrades</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">11</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Reckoning</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">12</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Warning</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">13</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill at Bay</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">14</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Pards</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">15</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Brand</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">16</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Honor</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">17</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Phantom Hunt</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">18</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Fight With Fire</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">19</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Danite Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">20</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Ranch Riders</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">21</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Death Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">22</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Trackers</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">23</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Mid-air Flight</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">24</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill, Ambassador</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">25</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Air Voyage</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">26</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Secret Mission</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">27</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Long Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">28</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill Against Odds</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">29</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Hot Chase</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">30</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Ally</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">31</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Trove</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">32</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Foes</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">33</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Crack Shot</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">34</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Close Call</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">35</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Double Surprise</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">36</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Ambush</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">37</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Outlaw Hunt</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">38</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Border Duel</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">39</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Bid for Fame</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">40</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Triumph</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">41</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Spy Trailer</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">42</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Death Call</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">43</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Body Guard</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">44</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Still Hunt</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">45</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Doomed Dozen</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">46</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Prairie Scout</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">47</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Guide</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">48</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Bonanza</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">49</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Swoop</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">50</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Gold King</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">51</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill, Deadshot</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">52</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Bravos</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">53</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Big Four</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">54</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s One-armed Pard</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">55</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Race for Life</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">56</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Return</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">57</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Conquest</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">58</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill to the Rescue</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">59</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Beautiful Foe</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">60</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Perilous Task</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">61</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Queer Find</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">62</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Blind Lead</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">63</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Resolution</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">64</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill, the Avenger</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">65</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Pledged Pard</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">66</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">67</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Wild Ride</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">68</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Stampede</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">69</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Mine Mystery</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">70</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Gold Hunt</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">71</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Daring Dash</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">72</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill on Hand</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">73</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Alliance</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">74</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Relentless Foe</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">75</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Midnight Ride</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">76</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Chivalry</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">77</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Girl Pard</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">78</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Private War</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">79</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Diamond Mine</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">80</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Big Contract</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">81</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Woman Foe</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">82</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Ruse</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">83</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Pursuit</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">84</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Gold</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">85</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill in Mid-air</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">86</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Queer Mission</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">87</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Verdict</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">88</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Ordeal</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">89</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Camp Fires</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">90</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Iron Nerve</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">91</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Rival</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">92</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Lone Hand</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">93</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Sacrifice</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">94</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Thunderbolt</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">95</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Black Fortune</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">96</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Wild Work</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">97</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Yellow Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">98</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Train</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">99</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Bowie Duel</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">100</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Mystery Man</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">101</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Bold Play</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">102</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill: Peacemaker</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">103</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Big Surprise</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">104</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Barricade</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">105</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Test</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">106</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Powwow</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">107</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Stern Justice</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">108</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Mysterious Friend</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">109</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Boomers</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">110</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Panther Fight</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">111</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Overland Mail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">112</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill on the Deadwood Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">113</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill in Apache Land</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">114</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Blindfold Duel</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">115</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Lone Camper</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">116</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Merry War</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">117</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Star Play</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">118</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s War Cry</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">119</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill on Black Panther’s Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">120</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Slim Chance</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">121</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill Besieged</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">122</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Bandit Round-up</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">123</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Surprise Party</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">124</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Lightning Raid</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">125</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill in Mexico</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">126</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Foe</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">127</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Tireless Chase</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">128</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">129</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Sure Guess</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">130</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Record Jump</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">131</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill in the Land of Dread</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">132</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Tangled Clue</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">133</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Wolf Skin</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">134</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Twice Four Puzzle</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">135</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Devil Bird</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">136</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Indian’s Mascot</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">137</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill Entrapped</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">138</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Totem Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">139</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill at Fort Challis</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">140</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Determination</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">141</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Battle Axe</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">142</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Game with Fate</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">143</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Comanche Raid</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">144</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Aerial Island</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">145</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Lucky Shot</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">146</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Sioux Friends</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">147</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Supreme Test</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">148</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Boldest Strike</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">149</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill and the Red Hand</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">150</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Dance with Death</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">151</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Running Fight</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">152</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill in Harness</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">153</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill Corralled</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">154</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Buffalo Bill’s Waif of the West</td> -<td class="tdl">By Col. Prentiss Ingraham</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> - -<p class="pfs135">BOOKS THAT NEVER GROW OLD</p> -</div> - -<p class="pfs240">ALGER SERIES</p> - -<p class="pfs120">Clean Adventure Stories for Boys</p> - -<p class="pfs180">Price, Fifteen Cents</p> - -<p class="pfs120"><em>The Most Complete List Published</em></p> - -<hr class="r15d" /> - -<div class="blockquot"> -<p>The following list does not contain all the books that Horatio -Alger wrote, but it contains most of them, and certainly the best.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> - -<p>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.</p> -</div> - -<p class="pfs90 bold"><em>ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT</em></p> - -<hr class="fulld" /> - -<table class="autotable fs90" width="85%" summary=""> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">1</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Driven from Home</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">2</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">A Cousin’s Conspiracy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">3</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Ned Newton</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">4</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Andy Gordon</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">5</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Tony, the Tramp</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">6</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Five Hundred Dollar Check</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">7</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Helping Himself</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">8</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Making His Way</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">9</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Try and Trust</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">10</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Only an Irish Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">11</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Jed, the Poorhouse Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">12</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Chester Rand</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">13</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Grit, the Young Boatman of Pine Point</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">14</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Joe’s Luck</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">15</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">From Farm Boy to Senator</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">16</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Outlaw</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">17</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Jack’s Ward</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">18</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Dean Dunham</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">19</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">In a New World</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">20</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Both Sides of the Continent</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">21</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Store Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">22</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Brave and Bold</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">23</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">A New York Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">24</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Bob Burton</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">25</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Adventurer</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">26</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Julius, the Street Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">27</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Adrift in New York</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">28</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Tom Brace</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">29</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Struggling Upward</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">30</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Adventures of a New York Telegraph Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">31</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Tom Tracy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">32</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Acrobat</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">33</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Bound to Rise</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">34</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Hector’s Inheritance</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">35</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Do and Dare</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">36</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Tin Box</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">37</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Tom, the Bootblack</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">38</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Risen from the Ranks</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">39</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Shifting for Himself</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">40</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Wait and Hope</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">41</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Sam’s Chance</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">42</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Striving for Fortune</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">43</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Phil, the Fiddler</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">44</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Slow and Sure</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">45</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Walter Sherwood’s Probation</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">46</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Trials and Triumphs of Mark Mason</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">47</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Salesman</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">48</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Andy Grant’s Pluck</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">49</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Facing the World</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">50</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Luke Walton</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">51</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Strive and Succeed</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">52</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">From Canal Boy to President</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">53</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Erie Train Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">54</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Paul, the Peddler</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">55</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Miner</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">56</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Charlie Codman’s Cruise</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">57</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">A Debt of Honor</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">58</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Explorer</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">59</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Ben’s Nugget</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">60</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Errand Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">61</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Frank and Fearless</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">62</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Frank Hunter’s Peril</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">63</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Adrift in the City</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">64</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Tom Thatcher’s Fortune</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">65</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Tom Turner’s Legacy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">66</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Dan, the Newsboy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">67</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Digging for Gold</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">68</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Lester’s Luck</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">69</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">In Search of Treasure</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">70</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Frank’s Campaign</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">71</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Bernard Brook’s Adventures</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">72</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Robert Coverdale’s Struggles</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">73</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Paul Prescott’s Charge</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">74</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Mark Manning’s Mission</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">75</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Rupert’s Ambition</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">76</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Sink or Swim</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">77</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Backwood’s Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">78</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Tom Temple’s Career</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">79</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Ben Bruce</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">80</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Musician</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">81</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Telegraph Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">82</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Work and Win</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">83</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Train Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">84</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Cash Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">85</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Herbert Carter’s Legacy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">86</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Strong and Steady</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">87</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Lost at Sea</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">88</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">From Farm to Fortune</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">89</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Young Captain Jack</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">90</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Joe, the Hotel Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">91</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Out for Business</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">92</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Falling in With Fortune</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">93</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Nelson, the Newsboy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">94</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Randy of the River</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">95</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Jerry, the Backwoods Boy</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">96</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Ben Logan’s Triumph</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">97</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Book Agent</td> -<td class="tdl">By Horatio Alger, Jr.</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">98</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Last Cruise of _The Spitfire_</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">99</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Reuben Stone’s Discovery</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">100</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">True to Himself</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">101</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Richard Dare’s Venture</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">102</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Oliver Bright’s Search</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">103</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">To Alaska for Gold</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">104</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Auctioneer</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">105</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Bound to Be an Electrician</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">106</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Shorthand Tom</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">107</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Fighting for His Own</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">108</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Joe, the Surveyor</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">109</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Larry, the Wanderer</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">110</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Ranchman</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">111</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Lumbermen</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">112</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Explorers</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">113</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Boys of the Wilderness</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">114</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Boys of the Great Northwest</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">115</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Boys of the Gold Fields</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">116</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">For His Country</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">117</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Comrades in Peril</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">118</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Pearl Hunters</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">119</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">The Young Bandmaster</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">120</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Boys of the Fort</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">121</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">On Fortune’s Trail</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">122</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Lost in the Land of Ice</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -<tr> -<td class="tdr">123</td> -<td class="tdc">—</td> -<td class="tdl">Bob, the Photographer</td> -<td class="tdl">By Edward Stratemeyer</td> -</tr> -</table> - -<div class="chapter"> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -</div> - -<div class="bbox"> -<p class="pfs240 bold">Only One Best</p> - -<div class="figcenter illowe4_6875" id="dingbat1"> - <img class="w100" src="images/dingbat.jpg" alt="" /> -</div> - -<div 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