Prentiss Ingraham

“ A dozen leaps of the white cayuse carried the girl to the scene of the shooting.
Again an unseen rifle cracked, and a bullet whistled past the girl’s head. But she gave attention to nothing and to no one save Patterson.
And if ever a man stood in need of aid, it was the brave sergeant at that moment.
Patterson had dropped from his saddle and was lying helpless on his side. His horse, a few yards away, was standing stock-still, fore hoofs planted wide apart, head thrown back, and nostrils sniffing the night air.
The sergeant, when attacked, had been traversing a “hogback.” ”

“ At one place, too, Dell forced Silver Heels to a jump of half a dozen feet over a crevasse; and at another place she made a leap downward over a bluff of twelve feet. Bear Paw and his two riders were always behind, the scout marveling at Dell’s perfect horsemanship.
The girl, it was plain, was entirely at home in the saddle. Was there anything, the scout was asking himself, in which Dell Dauntless did not excel?
Throughout the entire journey it was necessary to keep a keen lookout for enemies, white and red. None were seen, perhaps because none would dare this almost impossible trail. ”

“ The scout, in judging of his present state of mind, remembered how he had had three dreams concerning the bullion robberies, and how those dreams had come true—at least partially.
“You’re fretting too much over those robberies, McGowan,” admonished the scout. “Forget them. A man ought to teach himself to forget the things that wear on his nerves.”
“It isn’t the trouble here that wears on my nerves, Buffalo Bill; it’s the fact that Bernritter has proved himself a scoundrel; and the fact that Annie must be told of his duplicity when she gets here. ”

“ A bullet was launched at him by Bascomb and Bernritter.
“Let up on that, you fellers!” howled Giles. “It’s me, Giles.”
“Come ahead, then,” called Bascomb.
Giles hurried on, and finally vanished in the shadows of the rocks.
“That will make three on the island,” said Dell, “and probably Bascomb and Bernritter will be able to give Giles a weapon.”
“What if they do?” the scout answered. “With some one here to guard the causeway, half a dozen men would be as secure on that island as though they were locked in a cell. Giles may get the horses, or he may not. We’ll see.” ”

“ Bernritter’s moody eyes took no account of all the bustle and energy which spelled success for the Three-ply plant and prosperity for its owner, Patrick McGowan. Bernritter’s unofficial affairs were in a tangle, and his everlasting ruin seemed imminent.
When men betray an employer’s trust and do evil and dishonest things, they must expect to have an uneasy conscience. But it was more than an uneasy conscience that troubled Bernritter: His fears told him that he was face to face with exposure and punishment, unless he made some move for his own safety. ”

“ By a queer process of reasoning, both Cayuse and Nomad had labored under the impression that the other had been captured by Geronimo’s men.
“Cayuse wasn’t captured, Nick,” said Buffalo Bill. “He got away, and has been finding fault with himself because he didn’t stand by you, just as you are all gloomed up because you didn’t stand by him. You think he’s a prisoner, and he thinks you are. Well, well!”
“An’ ther kid is all right, is he?” said Nomad, in a tone of deep relief.
“He is.”
“Whar is he, Buffler?”
“He was in the place where Dell and I got locoed. Cayuse got locoed, too. ”

“ The scout climbed into his saddle again, and he and the girl continued up the arroyo.
“Your little Piute pard must be a wonder,” said Dell.
“He is,” averred the scout. “He is not only immune from what is called ‘fear,’ but he has also a clever brain, and never fails to use it. I did not tell him to leave a clue as to where he had gone, or to leave a trail for us to follow; yet we have found the clue, and you can depend on it we will find some sort of a trail.” ”

“ I found those wires,” the scout added, “under the pile of amalgam balls, in the deserted shaft.”
McGowan was thunderstruck at the case made out by Buffalo Bill. Then, as he realized how audaciously he had been robbed, his anger began to mount.
“By thunder,” he cried, smiting his hands fiercely together, “I’ll have the scalps of the men who did this, no matter who they are! Buffalo Bill, you have done great work! In one night you have unraveled a mystery that has bothered the life out of me for two weeks. ”

“ With an exclamation, the scout hung down from his saddle and picked it up.
On the flat handle was a very crude drawing of a horse, burned into the horn.
“This belongs to Cayuse,” said the scout. “That picture on the handle is the way he signs his name.”
“Then he lost the knife?” queried the girl.
“Cayuse never loses anything so long as he is master of his own actions. I incline to the opinion that the Apaches laid a trap for him and sprung it about here. The ground shows signs of a struggle. ”

“ The scout fired, and his bullet, passing under the body of one of the horses, seared Bascomb’s leg.
Bascomb yelled and leaped back toward the shore of the island. Bernritter followed him.
“Come on, Giles!” ordered the scout, “and come quick. Bascomb,” he added, addressing the black shore of the island, “if you or Bernritter do any more shooting, or make any more trouble, it will go all the harder with you. You’re as good as captured, and you ought to know it.” ”

“ The thump of hoofs on the boards, and the snorting of the horses, drowned the footfalls of Bascomb and Bernritter, but the scout could see their legs plainly under the horses’ bodies.
“Stop, Giles!” shouted the scout.
“Kain’t stop!” answered Giles, in a flutter. “If we stand still the boards’ll sink under us. We got ter keep movin’. The hosses weighs more’n what a man does.” ”

“ Nomad’s work lay clearly before him: He must effect his escape as soon as possible, do something for Buffalo Bill if he needed anything done, and then, together, they would take what steps the scout deemed necessary for saving the Three-ply bullion.
This line of action fired the trapper with a determination to get effectively busy.
With the sweat pouring off him, and his breath coming from behind the towel-gag in gasps, he fought with the bonds at his wrists.
A twisted towel is not nearly so effective as a rope when used for binding the hands of a powerful man like Nomad. ”

“ Annie McGowan is my best friend, and I would face any danger for her. I would think of her safety, too, but I wouldn’t fall in with the schemes of these lawless scoundrels. I shall not return to the Double D Ranch until Annie is safe at the Three-ply—but you take my advice and give Buffalo Bill and me a free hand in this matter. Being Annie’s father, it is only natural that you should be so worried you can’t get the proper perspective of this business. Leave it to others. You’ll help, Buffalo Bill?” she asked, facing the scout. ”

“ While Bascomb and Bernritter were coming across, Buffalo Bill released Banks and Hendricks, emptied their six-shooters of cartridges, and dumped all the shells out of their cartridge-belts.
“When you release a couple of wolves,” the scout remarked, “it’s a good plan to draw their fangs. Now, then, Banks and Hendricks, show us your heels; and remember this, both of you: If your trails ever again cross mine, you’ll have cause to regret it.” ”

“ A little after noon Rising, the sheriff, came whipping along the shore from the direction of the trail.
“Hello, there, Cody!” he shouted. “Here we are again, Hawkins and I. Some one brought word to us that you had captured Bascomb and Bernritter.”
“They’re not exactly captured, but the next thing to it, Rising,” the scout answered, as the sheriff and his deputy leaped out of the buckboard. “They’re on the island, out there, and the only way they can escape is by coming across that patent bridge.” ”

“ Still, the facts are sometimes brutal, McGowan. It is far and away better for you to find out what sort of a fellow Bernritter is now than after his marriage to your daughter.”
McGowan, greatly shaken, bowed his head thoughtfully.
“The night is wearing to a close,” went on the scout briskly, “and we must have our plans all laid before morning. How many men have you in the camp on whom you can absolutely rely?”
“I thought I could rely on all of them,” was the slow answer, “with the possible exception of Jacobs. The cyanid expert has only been here for a few months, and I never liked him. ”

“ There is no more romantic character in American history than William F. Cody, or as he was internationally known, Buffalo Bill. He, with Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, Wild Bill Hickok, General Custer, and a few other adventurous spirits, laid the foundation of our great West.
There is no more brilliant page in American history than the winning of the West. Never did pioneers live more thrilling lives, so rife with adventure and brave deeds as the old scouts and plainsmen. Foremost among these stands the imposing figure of Buffalo Bill. ”

“ As the scout spurred on, his alarm for Little Cayuse increased.
“He’s plenty able to take care of himself,” the scout said to the girl, “but any one, I don’t care how wary and cautious, is apt to be caught napping, or taken at a disadvantage.”
“He’s an Indian, and only a boy. It doesn’t seem to me that the Apaches would be very hard on him even if they did capture him.”
“He’s a Piute, Dell, and the Piutes and Apaches haven’t any use for each other. Then, apart from their tribal hostility, I suppose the Apaches are smarting to play even for what happened at the Three-ply Mine the other day. ”

“ Indians, as a rule, are versed in the use of herbs.”
“It is all very dark to me,” said the girl helplessly. “If Geronimo drugged the pool from which we drank, in the valley, why was he not there to make prisoners of us?”
“Some of the Apaches may have put on these manacles as we find them; then, in some manner, we may have eluded the Apaches and got away. It’s all guesswork, Dell, and one guess is as good as another.”
“But Cayuse!” exclaimed Dell, taking sudden thought of the little Piute. “Where can he be?”
The scout lifted his voice in a loud cry: “Cayuse! Cayuse!” ”

“ The leaden bees buzzed on either side of the scout’s head, and Annie McGowan’s arms clasped frantically about his neck.
“It ain’t Giles at all!” whooped Bascomb; “but it’s some other meddlin’ whelp——”
“Rush after the fellow!” interrupted the frantic voice of Bernritter. “All is up with us if he gets away! Stop him! The girl! We must not let him get away with the girl!”
By that time the scout had reached the kegs and the boxes. Dropping the girl down behind them, he crouched at her side and gave vent to a mocking laugh.
“You fellows are close to the end of your rope!” he shouted. ”

“ You think I’m too much of a spectacle to make good in a fight. I’ll admit to you that I don’t like rowdyism. I try to be a lady, both at home on the ranch and when I’m abroad in the hills. But I don’t think any the less of a lady because she’s able to take care of herself. Do you?”
“Nary, I don’t,” said Nomad.
“I’m no second edition of Rowdy Kate or Calamity Jane; but when my father died”—the girl’s voice trembled, [120] and a mist came into her fine eyes—“and left no one but me to look after mother and take care of the ranch, it was up to Dell of the Double D to show her hand. ”

“ In the afternoon Rising drove out in a two-seated buckboard, bringing Hawkins with him and a doctor.
He was astounded when told of what had taken place at the Three-ply.
“Everything seems to happen all in a bunch for you and your pards, Buffalo Bill,” said he. “It would take a lot of average men a month to do what you and your outfit have cleaned up on in twenty-four hours.”
“A lot of average men wouldn’t have the Cody-luck,” said the scout, with a smile. ”

“ Bascomb saw Buffalo Bill, whom he had put down in the old shaft during the night, and whom he believed to be safely out of the way. The sight of the scout naturally astounded the ruffian; then, apparently realizing that his failure to take the camp by surprise was due to Buffalo Bill, Bascomb’s rage rushed through him and found vent in a wild oath.
“Come on!” he yelled to the redskins. “Kill the long-haired warrior! A hundred pesos ter the buck that does fer Buffler Bill!” ”

“ At the foot of the hill, where Buffalo Bill had seen [88] the disappearing head and shoulders of Bascomb, was a pack of armed Apaches, rushing like wolves in the direction of the laboratory building. A white man was in the lead, springing over the ground with long leaps.
“Nomad,” said the scout, starting up, “you and the baron will get into the laboratory building and prevent the amalgam from being taken. Now!”
The door was flung open and the three pards rushed out. ”

“ At last, after two hours of sweating labor, Dell pulled Silver Heels to a halt under the brow of a steep hill.
“Going to rest and breathe the bronks?” asked the scout.
“Nary, pard,” answered Dell, with an easy return to the colloquialism of the West; “we’re close to the end of our trail, and that’s why we’re rounded up. Squaw [167] Rock is just over the rise. I thought perhaps you might like to reconnoiter before we shacked down on the place.”
“That’s the sensible thing to do, of course. Cayuse will look after the horses while you and I climb the slope.” ”

“ As for my pards, game old Nick and the loyal little Piute, if they’ve crossed the divide, that runs up a personal debt which I owe the renegades, particularly Geronimo.
“You know what it is, I reckon,” he went on, dropping his voice, “to share the same blanket with a man year in and year out; to scout with him at your side; to stand shoulder to shoulder with him in more fights than you can count; to find him at all times a pard to be depended on for sand and sagacity ”

“ Nomad is a captive the wily old chief would be proud of.”
“Mebbyso Geronimo kill um Wolf-killer.”
This remark of Cayuse’s was a logical deduction, but the scout would not accept it.
“No, Cayuse,” said he, “if Geronimo was going to put Nomad out of the way, he’d have done it there on the scene of the ambush. Geronimo, however, is sharp enough to understand that Nomad is worth more to him alive than he would be dead. So we come back to the thing I can’t understand: If Nomad is a prisoner, where is he? And why wasn’t he taken to Tonio Pass?” ”

“ The whole cut-and-dried affair had worked out to the baron’s disadvantage and to the benefit of the scheming scoundrels, Bernritter and Jacobs.
They had shifted the responsibility of the theft of the cyanid bullion to the Dutchman: And might not McGowan think that he was in league with the red bullion thieves who were believed to be back of the other thefts of bullion?
The sharpest criminals are short-sighted as to one or two details, in even their cleverest trickery. Bernritter had overlooked the fact that possibly the Dutchman might be a pard of Buffalo Bill’s ”

“ Banks stepped up to within arm’s length of the scout. With his left hand the scout disarmed Banks, then whirled on Hendricks.
Dell Dauntless had descended the hill-slope and was standing within a dozen feet of Hendricks, her revolver leveled, and a look of determination in her blue eyes.
“It’s all over but payin’ the bets, ain’t it?” grinned Hendricks sourly.
“When a man dances he has to pay the fiddler,” said Buffalo Bill. “You and Banks will pay with a few years in the ‘pen.’ Take his guns, Dell,” he added to the girl. ”

“ Either of us may have the wrong pig by the ear, but that remains to be seen. Are you traveling with me?”
“I’m going to the pass,” said the scout decidedly.
“Very well. It may not be a bad idea to cover both points. I can’t spare many men for you, Cody, as I’m taking the bulk of the force I have left here. A hundred bucks under Geronimo is a gang not to be sneezed at, and there’ll be brisk work if we come up with them. However, take Lieutenant Doyle and ten troopers, if you wish——”
“I’ll go it alone with my pards.”
“What? A girl and a boy? Think again, Cody.” ”

“ The fortunes of war are hard on a man sometimes. You say you’ll get Bascomb, and I hope——”
An orderly, his clothes dusty with alkali, showed himself in the doorway and saluted.
“Come in, Carter,” said Markham. “What’s to pay? Anything new?”
“One of our Apache scouts has jest come in, sir,” answered the orderly. “He reports having been captured by Geronimo, quirted and sent back to Bonita with a message.”
“Send him in,” ordered Markham. “These Apache scouts,” he added to Buffalo Bill when the orderly had vanished, “may be depended on, or they may not. It’s a doubtful point.” ”