Wild Bill Hickok

“ The outlaw allowed his eyes to waver and he fell with a bullet-hole in his forehead.
As stage-driver, Indian fighter, and peace officer Wild Bill Hickok did a man's work in cleaning up the border. He was about to go and join the Custer expedition as a scout when one who thought the murder would give him renown shot him from behind as he was sitting in at a poker game in Deadwood. He died drawing his two guns, and the whole West mourned his passing. It had never known a braver spirit.
The silent ranks grow thicker: young men, sunburned and booted for the saddle ”

“ When Wild Bill Hickok stepped out into the street he saw coming across the railroad track a stranger, a young man tall as himself, though not so heavy of build. The newcomer was clad much like himself, in dark clothing, with neat boots. ”

“ Hickok was fully informed of preceding events by the scout and the trapper, Wah-coo-tah being brought into the recital, since she alone had furnished the scout the tip that had led him to the mine.
“From what you say of the girl,” remarked Wild Bill, “she seems to be of a different caliber from that of her tinhorn father.”
[88]
“She is,” averred the scout, “if I’m any judge of character.”
“It’s a good thing for her the Ponca slipped into the shaft. But for that, he’d have caught her, sooner or later. An Injun isn’t giving up five good ponies just to let himself be beaten out of his bargain.” ”

“ He now explained at length the machinations of the trail pirates and the untimely end of them in the night battle on the Washita.
“He mostly plays a lone hand,” Nabours concluded. “He’s an officer in the Rangers. That’s putting law into Texas—the Rangers.”
“Well, we’ve only got one man to put law into Abilene. I’m going to hire Wild Bill Hickok for our town marshal. Wild Bill has got these bad people buffaloed. Counting in his work as a Union sharpshooter, under Curtis, in the Missouri country, he’d have to have a long gun stock to carry all his notches. ”

“ He was in a sorry fix, Nick was, Hickok. He told me he had heard ghosts, and he was for leaving the mine on the run.”
The old trapper wore a sheepish look.
“Waal,” he grunted, “them noises I heerd shore sounded like they mout be ghosts. No human bein’ ever made sich sounds, accordin’ ter my thinkin’.”
“It’s blamed lucky for me,” observed Wild Bill, “that Cody isn’t superstitious. If he had been, Bill Hickok would have been company front with his finish. But tell me everything. I’m like a man that has been in solitary confinement for so long that the mere sound of a human voice is refreshing. ”

“ The powerful glass drew the Indians well within range of his eyes.
“Yes, Cheyennes,” he said, “and young bucks from the reservation; and they’ve got Hickok, more’s the pity! Those young rascals are out for scalps and plunder. When they get ‘good’ again, they’ll hurry back to the reservation, slip in some dark night, and swear that they have never been away from it a minute.”
Wild Bill rode upright and seemed not to be seriously hurt, as Buffalo Bill was glad to observe. ”

“ BUFFALO BILL’S WEIRD WARNING.
CHAPTER I.
MYSTERIOUS DOINGS.
“What was that, Crawling Bear?”
“Ugh! Fire-gun make um big ‘boom.’”
“It was a fire-gun, all right, but where did the report come from? That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
Two horsemen were riding along a bleak, desolate-looking cañon, on route to the mining-camp known as Sun Dance. One was a white man, and the other an Indian. The white rider was William Hickok, of Laramie, better known as “Wild Bill,” and his companion was a Ponca warrior. ”

“ The scout and the trapper worked like galley-slaves. By degrees the voice on the other side of the wall became clearer as the barrier diminished; then, suddenly, the voice ceased altogether.
[81]
“What does thet mean?” panted Nomad, pausing a second to peer at his pard.
“Hickok!” shouted the scout, likewise pausing.
No answer came back.
“It means,” went on Buffalo Bill, “that we’ve got to work faster than ever. Wild Bill has succumbed to the foul air, and he’ll die if we don’t get him out before many minutes.” ”

“ Dell Dauntless pushed forward and explained the situation to the scout and his pards.
“Waugh!” tuned up old Nomad in customary fashion, “what sort of er pizen deal is Lawless tryin’ ter pull off? Me no like um; hey, Wild Bill?”
“It’s sure a queer layout,” pondered Hickok. “The fact that Lawless is behind it makes it a cinch that it doesn’t mean any good to We, Us & Co. Whatever you do, Cody, remember that.”
“Where can we see you in half an hour, Gentleman Jim?” the scout inquired, turning to the gambler. ”

“ Bingham,” said the scout, “I beg your pardon. The Forty Thieves, from this showing made by my friend, Mr. Hickok, looks like a good purchase. But Lawless doesn’t know anything about that pay-streak. In negotiating for the mine, if I were you I wouldn’t say anything about it.”
“When he goes out to find Lawless and close up the deal,” said Wild Bill, “Mr. Bingham, I’m afraid, will have to do a good deal of hunting. In his efforts to beat somebody, Lawless has salted a bonanza onto Mr. Bingham and his Chicago syndicate. All I ask, Mr. ”

“ In addition to the publishers’ efforts on Bill’s behalf, great impetus was given to his posthumous repute by Calamity Jane. Nevertheless, in all probability Hickok was actually the fearless and sterling character his legendeers have depicted, and had he not been brutally done to death by feckless Jack McCall he would doubtless have earned even greater fame through his own efforts in later years. ”

“ Another man who gained even greater notoriety than Slade was "Wild Bill" Hickock, a tall, yellow-haired giant who had done splendid service as a scout in the western sector of the Civil War.
"Wild Bill" I had known since 1857. He and I shared the pleasure of walking a thousand miles to the Missouri River, after the bull-train in which we both were employed had been burned by Lot Smith, the Mormon raider. Afterward we rode the Pony Express together.
While an express rider, Bill had the fight with the McCandless gang which will always form an interesting chapter in the history of the West. ”

“ There were ten of the desperadoes, and Hickok, who was scarcely more than a boy then, was alone in the little sod house, for Doc Brinck, his partner, was off hunting that afternoon. He watched their approach from the lonely cubicle where he and Brinck passed their days as station-keepers. They rode up through the cottonwoods by the creek. Bill McCandless leaped from the saddle and swaggered to the corral bars.
“The first man lays a hand on those bars, I’ll shoot,” Hickok called. They answered his warning with a volley, and their leader laughed as he dragged the topmost railing from its place. ”

“ We were considering the possibility of doing better in Kansas City and Saint Joe and had half decided to go to those places when one day Jack came rushing in, exclaiming:
"I've struck it. I've struck just the rig that we want. A lot of fine-haired fellows from the East have just got in from a buffalo hunt with a splendid outfit they want to sell. They will take anything they can get for it, because they are going back East on the railroad and are in a hurry to get off; and who do you think I found in charge of the outfit but Wild Bill Hickock? ”

“ Directly under his eyes, carved on the wooden table, a name challenged him, standing out of the numerous initials—Guzzler Wilkins.
"I'll keep count," said Hickey. "Macnooder and Turkey, watch the pancakes."
"Regulation size, Conover," cried that cautious Red Dog; "no doubling now. All fair and above-board."
"All right, Hickey, all right," said Conover, leering wickedly from the door; "if that little grasshopper can do it, you get the cakes."
"Now, Hungry," said Turkey, clapping Smeed on the shoulder. "Here is where you get your [Pg 43] chance. Remember, Kid, old sport, it's for the Dickinson." ”

“ One of the reasons for my desire to make the acquaintance of Wild Bill was to obtain from his own lips a true account of some of the adventures related of him. It was not an easy matter. It was hard to overcome the reticence which marks men who have lived the wild mountain life, and which was one of his valuable qualifications as a scout. ”

“ A man does all things better when he has a roll.
The currents of life had been flowing swiftly for Mr. Hickok. Two years before he was marshal of Hays, and had shot his way into the popular confidence. In an evil hour a trio of soldiers came over from the Fort, led by one Lanigan, and took drunken umbrage at Mr. Hickok’s hair. This rudeness touched Mr. Hickok tenderly, and in checking it he snuffed out those three as gallery Frenchmen snuff candles at ten paces. Since there arose carpers to say that Mr. Hickok went too far in these homicides, he laid down his trust and journeyed to Abilene. ”

“ Suddenly Hickey, standing forward, began to count:
"One, two, three——"
"What's he doing that for?"
"Aren't they both down?"
"Four, five, six, seven——"
"But Lovely went first!"
"No, the Gutter Pup."
"Eight, nine, TEN!" cried Hickey. "I declare both men down and out. The Sporting Club will register one knockout to the credit of the Gutter Pup and one to Lovely Mead. All bets off. The Welsh Rabbit will proceed to return that watch!!"
At seven o'clock the next morning Lovely, from his delicious bed, gazed across at the swollen head of the Gutter Pup. ”

“ They did not remain long in doubt, for the two men turned again, and with a shout, rushed for the ditch, and then we were near enough to see that they were Wild Bill and his mate. Bill's companion never reached the ditch. He and his horse must have been shot at the same time, for they went down together, and did not rise again.
“Bill did not get a scratch. He spoke to Black Nell, the mare he rode, who knew as well as her master that there was life and death in that twenty feet of ditch, and that she must jump it ”

“ Until night came again they must cling to the spur-top and manage to live in that hurricane of lead. He went down the line, calling each man by name, rousing them, like a prophet inspired. The fury of sacrifice seized them. They fought on, parched and bleeding, while the sun rose above them and slowly fell. A thousand lives; half that, and half that again. Five o'clock, and still two hours to go. He looked about him. Only a few hundred remained to meet the next charge. Red Dog and Ginger Pop were cold in death, Hickey was dying. ”

“ Hickok. They might love the drama, but not to that extent. It was the rock on which they split. Mr. Hickok would not aim high, and the burned ones would take no part in the presentation unless he did. The situation became strained. As a finale, after bitter words had been spoken, Mr. Hickok quit the mimic world and returned to a life that, while it numbered its drawbacks, might make the boast that it was real. ”

“ Not to run the trail too far, Mr. Hickok was ruminating the loss of his final dollar, which had fled across a faro layout in the Marble Hall. As he strolled dejectedly in Battle Row, he couldn’t have told where his next week’s board was coming from, not counting his next week’s drinks. It was the dismal present, promising a dismal future, which exhaled those mists to take the curl from Mr. Hickok’s moustache and teach his hair to hide beneath his hat. Short-haired men may be penniless and still command respect; a long-haired man without a dollar is a creature laughed at. ”

“ You're not superstitious, are you?"
"Sure, I'm not," retorted Legs, who received the skeleton in his arms with a shiver that raised the goose-flesh from his crown to his heels.
"Come on," said Hickey in a whisper; "softly now."
"What's that?" exclaimed Legs, drawing in his breath.
"That's nothing," said Macnooder loftily; "all buildings creak at night." ”

“ Like the rest of you-all, I’ve been trailin’ out after my grave ever since I was foaled—on a hunt for my sepulcher, you may say—an’ it ought not to shock me to a showdown jest because some pard tracks up ag’inst his last restin’ place, spreads his blankets an’ goes into final camp before it come my own turn.
But, speakin’ of killin’s, the most onusual I ever hears of is when Wild Bill Hickox cleans up the Jake McCandlas gang. This Bill I knows intimate; he’s not so locoed as his name might lead a gent to concloode. The truth is, he’s a mighty crafty, careful form of sport ”

“ THE MARTYRDOM OF WILLIAM HICKS
Hickey had now reached the height of his fame. Intoxicated by success, he forgot all prudence, or rather his revolt became an appetite that demanded constant feeding. He no longer concealed his past exploits, he even went so far as to announce the escapades he planned.
"You are running your head into the noose, Hickey, my boy," said Macnooder, sadly; "every master in the school has got his eye on you." ”

“ I'll notify Hickey. You don't mind fighting by lamplight?"
"Huh!"
"Of course, we'll fight under the auspices of the Sporting Club, with a ring and sponges and that sort of thing," said the Gutter Pup cheerfully. "You'll like it. It's a secret organisation and it's a [Pg 143] great honour to belong. Hickey, at the Dickinson, got it up. He's president, and referees. I'm the official timekeeper, but that don't matter. They'll arrange for seconds and all that sort of thing, and Doc Macnooder is always there for medical assistance. You're sure the lights won't bother you?" ”

“ Hickey indignantly denied the accusation, and a [Pg 205] little quarrel arose between them, terminated by Wash, who broke in:
"Shut up, Crazy—Hickey is dead right. We want to go in friendly-like, just as though we knew the Doctor would side with us at once—sort of take him into our confidence."
"That's it," said Hickey; "we want to be good-natured at first, lay the matter before him calmly, then afterward we can be firm."
"Rats!" said Crazy; "are we going to tell him, or not, that we represent the Dickinson and the Woodhull and that they have voted the extinction of 'sinkers'?" ”