Buffalo Bill's medicine trail, or, Pawnee Bill, king of the rope

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Buffalo Bill stories
Buffalo Bill
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New York
Street & Smith
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Dime novels. ( rbgenr )
Western stories. ( lcsh )
serial ( sobekcm )


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Volume 1, Number 538

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University of South Florida
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A WEEKLY PUBUCATIO fVOTED TO BORDER UFE. Issued We e kly, Ente red as Secondc lass Matter at tM N. Y. Post Offi c e by STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seventh Ave N. Y CQpyright, 1911 by STREET & SMITH. r 0 G and G C. Proprietors TER.MS T O BUFFALO BILL STORIE S MAIL SUBSCRIBERS. ( Potao Free.) Single Co p les or Bac k Numbers, Sc. Each. 3 months .. .......... .. '. .. .. .. .. ... 61ic 011e year .. .. .. .. . .. .. .. .. S 2 .50 4 m ontbs ... ... .................... 86c. 2 copies one year .................. 4.00 6 m onths . ......................... $1.25 1 copy two years .................. 4 .00 How to Send Money-By post-omce or express m o n e y orde r, reg istered let ter, bank check or draft. at our risk At y our own risk If sent by currency, coin o r postage stamps In ordinary l etter. Receipts-Receipt o f your remittance Is acknowl edged by proper change ofnumberonyourlabel. If not correct yon have not been properly credited, and s hould let us know at once. No. 538. NEW YORK September 2 1911. Price Five Cents. I I . BUFFALO BILL'S MEDICINE TRAIL; \ OR, Pawnee Bill, King of the Rope. l By the author of BILL." \ \ CHAPTER I. RAMON CORRAL. The dull booming of Indian drums rever b erated in the hill s "Ee-yah Ai-ee-yah-yah-h i" The song of the Indian dancer s rose slow, monoto nous, emphasized with inde s cribable grunts. The scene was a small valley ringed round with fire scarred peak s 'The dancer s were a dozen in number, barbarically painted and f e athered At otfe side, on the ground, sat the drum beaters hamme r ing 1 thy drums with their knuckles; and beside them squatted Blue Moon, leader of the Tali Indians since the dis c o mfiture and di s grace of the medicine man, Ne komis. "The Tatis must grow strong of heart said Blue Moon, as if to himself; for indeed he could not have been heard above the din of the dr' ums and that cbanting song of the dancers. "They have been a w eakling race; but n o w they must become warriors. For the w hite men are coming to drive them out ans! ta k e them to the faraway prison pens, where t h ey will die like the eagle that is captured on t h e T he y h a v e been slaves thr oug h t h e fa l sehoods of Nek o m is; now t h e y m u s t b e men and w a rrior s " Ai-ee-y a h T oo itp ah-yah-h-ah Ee-yah-a h -h Hoais -tee-pah Y ah-ah'! Sho-ni-kee wah-iss tik-wee Ai -e e-y a h !" "Listen! The T ati s are men! Yes! Listen again Strong men are w e! Hear! We are the thunder and the l ight n ing that s t r ikes L isten So r an the word s of t he song, in the Tali dialect. The danc e was a grotesque and s l ow hop, with pa uses; t h e b o d y s t oop ed fo r w a rd Round and round they went, in sing le file, n ow and t hen striking thei r hands toge t her Somewhere : sk ulkin g f n the hills was the disgraced Nek o mis h iding fo r his li f e A year before he had been the all-powerful medicine man of the Talis, wh ose wo r d was law; for he was supposed to ha"'.e reeeived the appr o va l of the h ill spirits Buffalo Bill had l a id h i s preten ses bare and he was now hiding from the Indians he had decei v ed and en slaved . I t is a l o ng s t ory; bu t the s u bstance can be put int o a f e w shor t paragraphs


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. In the San Felipe foothills of northern Mexico an immensely rich gold mine, far from the paths of civilization; though the distance to the Gulf of Lower California was not great. The Mexican government claimed all undiscovered mines and minerals ; hence it claimed this, though all the the Diaz ad ministration had of it had come in the nature of rumors. r A set of outlaws under Miguel, the Red, had taken possession of the mine and were working it, shipping the rich ore stealthily by a schooner to a smelter in California. The mine laoor was being done by the Tali Indians, who were hdd in subjection by Nekomis, their medicine man, through fraud. He had set up a statue that talked, as the Talis believed, and gave to them the commands of the gods and of the hill spirits. To disobey the hill spirits and gods was unthink able; so when by the mouth of this statue the Talis were commanded to do the labor and drudgery of the mine, they obeyed. Nekomis was in the pay of Red Miguel; the Tali lab orers toiled in the mine without pay. How Nekomis had come under the sway of the outlaw leader the Talis did not even know. But one day Buffalo Bill came to the San Felipe hills and the mine, to rescue a young man and a young woman held for ransom by Red Miguel; and the great scout's rope, thrown round the neck of the talking statue, had jerked it down and broken it, and revealed within it an Indian who had been doing the talkingan Indian who was a confederate of the ctafty Ne komis.* Buffalo Bill and his party had gone away after that. Then the outraged and undeceived Talis had slain the man who had been inside the statue; and would have slain Nekomis if he h,ad not fled. For him they were still though many moons hag gone by. .. Blue Moon, watching the dancers, beat his minds together approvingly as he heard their words. It was the old Tali war song, and he haq not heard it in rf1any a day. The Talis were men agajn, no longer slaves, and their old fighting spirit having returned to them he felt that they would be able to resist with g uns the white men who said to be hastening to . slay them. ( "Ai-ee-yah Too-it-pah..:...:..yah-h-ah !" "Listen! The Talis are men!" they sang, with a grunt after the "men." "Tl;ie Talis are men!" "It is good 1: whispered Blue Moon, nodding. "It is very good! When the Tall Wolf comes he shall see truly that the Talis are men. I have thirty war riors like these-thirty who have felt the sting of the slave work of the mine-and when they meet the white men, who are coming to irnprisDn them, the hilJs will drip with blood." At the end of another ten minutes Blue Moon, who had been watching the hills, rose with his blanket draped picturesquely round him; a white man had come *Read No. 537: "Buffalo Bill and the Talking StC1,tue." in sight, and was descending the hill on the right, where the trail lay. In complexion the white man was very dark ; the sun wind of the far Southwest had given him a hue of tan that, made his face not unlike that of an Indian. He was to be a Mexican. To the Talis he was known as the Tall Wolf; the Mexicans knew him as Roman Corral. He had recently worn a beard, but had shaved it off, and left his chin and lip a ghastly white; but he had concealed this by the deft application of a stain that made the color of the skin uniform. An exclamation from Blue Moon brought the hop ping dancers to a full stop and stilled the hammering drums. "The Tall Wolf comes!" he announced. The painted dancers, with the drum beaters stand ing now beside them, stared at the Tall Wolf. They had known him well, but never as he appeared now. -"It is not the Tall Wolf," said one, voicing the general opinion. Blue Moon, though he also had noted the change, was sure that the white man was Tall Wolf. Dropping to the rocks at one side of the small space, where the dancing had been done, the Indians sat im movaply. Their sparkling black eyes, whose expres sions they could not well control, alone showed how lively was their interest. "Is it Tall Wolf?" asked Blue Moon, staring into tbe face of the man. "It is Tall Wolf," was the answer. "His face is changed.'' "But it has not turned against my friends and brothers, the Talis." "The black hair that covered it is gone." "Tall Wolf has made his face like that of a Tali ." "That his friends may not know him when they meet him?" "That he may be one with the Talis said the white man smoothly, using the Tali tongue nearly as well as Blue Moon. '"The Tatis are men!'' "Men; and ready to fight!" said Blue Moon, his eyes flashing. '' "Far off in the hills I heard the drums; and when I drew near I heard the song of the dancers, which said 'that the Talis are men and warriors It is good. If they are not men and warridrs they will not long be anything." "The Tall Wolf has long been the friend of the Talis. He brought us news when the I x lits threat ened us. He sent to us a runner when the Azatlins came over the mountain, and we should have been destroyed otherwise'. Last week he sent another nm ner, telling us that the Black Fox in Mexico City was sendihg the white men with guns, who will take us to the prison pens, and the runner said, then, that so011 the Tall Wolf would come to us himself, with more news. And we were to be ready. The Tall Wolf has come, as he said." Ramon Corral listened to this praise with the air of


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. 3 a m an who ftels that it is deserved Yet to have done an un selfis h thing would have been beyond him Blue Mo on has well said," he declared. "Tall Wolf ha s e ve r been the friend of the Tatis A nd the men with guns are coming?" "They are coming, but for the present they have been delayed. Tall Wolf threw a fright into them at the river called Hispaniola; he set fire to the hills there, and men with guns were near being baked ali v e in it; so they fled backward toward Mexico City They lost many of their guns, and much food and clothing. So they cannot be here soon." Blue Moon clapped his hands. "Hear !" he shouted. The grav e-faced Indians nodded their heads. "But there is even a greater danger," said Tall Wolf, dampening instantly the enthusiasm of Tali braves. "What can be worse than the men with the guns?" "The gray eyes from north of ,the line/' said Tall Wolf. "The A.,nericanos They are coming?" "They are here-some of them!" "Le t my brother speak on," invited Blue Moon, catchi n g his breath. "My brother remembers the gray eye that the North ern Indians call Pa-e-has-ka, and the white men call Buffalo Bill?" Blue Moon bowed his head. "Ai," he said; "and Pa-e-has-ka, as Tall Wolf knows, has been here; but many moons ago. He it was who threw down the lying image, and because of him Lame F oo t died by a Tali knife, and Nekomis has become a fugitive, who will be, killed as soon as he is found." "When Pa-e-has-ka broke the image it was not be cause he was a friend of the Tatis; it was because the Tatis were a s sisting and working for Miguel, the Red, and Miguel the Red held captive the young w f man and the young man. Blue Moon remembers?" "Ai, Blue Moon remembers." "Pa-e-has-ka is not the friend of the Tatis; not the friend of any Indians." "But I have been told that the name means Friend of the Indians." "Blue Moon has seen the poi s on spotted snake that looks like the harmless culebra ?" "Who has not? Once I picked one up, thinking it the harmless one, and it bit me." He showed a scar on his wrist. "Pa-e-has-ka is the poison-spotted snake that re sembles the harmless culebra." "Let my brother explain "He struck the bandits who had enslaved the Talis. N ow he is coming to strike the Talis themselves, be cause they we re with the bandits." "Let m y brother say on." "Blue Moo n kn ows where the Cross Timbers lie, to the south w e st? There is the c o pper mine of El Toro." "Many Talis live there. But the El Toros, our ene mies, are als o near there." "Pa-e-has-ka has sent men to the Cr oss Timbers, and they are rousing the El T o ros t o move against the Talis.'' "He has sent Americanq s ?" "Ai. And now he is coming himself tel the El Toro to stir them to hatred against the Tali s ." 1 An expression of rage crossed the face of Blue Mo o n and the squatting Indians grunted anger. "If Pa-e-has-ka has done this," said Blue Moon, "then Pa-e-has-ka dies." "The Talis are not afraid of the American s who folloT Pa-e-has-ka ?" suggested the crafty outlaw. "If they fear him, now is the time for them to go into hiding; but if they fear him not, let them move north ward to the White Cross Springs, and slay him there as he seeks to go southward." He looked in.to the face of Blue Moon, turned and looked at the squatting Talis sitting on their heels near by. "To show that Tall Wolf is a man of his word, and a friend of the Talis," he added, "Tall Wolf will go with the Talis." "Blue Moon will let Tall Wolf lead him and his braves against the Americanos; there not one of them be left alive. We will strike Pa-e-has-k;;i. at the White Cross Springs." "It is well," said Ramop "The Talis have become brave men, as I had heard; they are no longer the cringing slaves they were a year ago. They do not intend to be des troyed by the fal s e-faced Pa-e has-ka and his Americanos, and they will not be taken to the ptison1 pens in Me xico City. Ai, the Talis are indeed again men. Tall Wolf delights in 'leading men." ..J "It was the cowardly Nekomis wh o made the Talis slaves," urged Blue iJ.\1oon, puffed up by this praise. A yell sounded in the hills. As the wh ite man and the Indians jumped to their feet, a band of Talis appeared there, with a prisoner in their midst,. a Tali. "It is Nekomis," said Blue Moon. ""'They have found him in his nest in the hi 'ls, and now he dies!" "The Tatis are men!" repeated Corral, with ap proval. >.' When they know their foes they will destroy them, even though the foes should be Talis. Ai, the Talis have become men indeed." CHAPTER II. THE MESSAGE. I Seated at ea,se under the shade of the pepper tree, before the adobe which for a time Buffalo Bill was occupying in Truxillo, Pawnee Bill puffed contentedly at his cigar. I He was plaiting a quirt, and at the same time, out of sheer enjoyment, he was singing s natches of a song, when Buffalo Bill appeared in the door before him. "Seems like living again, necarni s ," he sa1d. "But


4 THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. this dull routine wouldn't suit the baron, eh? Nor Nomad." "Nor y o u if it lasted long, said the s cout. "No news fro m the insurrectos ?" questioned Paw nee. "I noticed that the mail carrier dropped some let ters in to y our hands this morning. The only thing I drew was a Mexican newspaper, and all I got out of it was that the edit o r seemed to have g o ne to sleep or off on a vacati on. There was nothing in it. "Nothing about the insurrection in any of my mail," said ttie scout. "The rev o lution business is too hot for this warm weather, and they have probably crawled off to take a siesta. I feel like taking one my s elf," he added. The noted scout, standing in the dool,", pulled the brim of his Stet s on d o wn over his eyes to cut out the sun glare, and looked off down the trail. "Hello! he said. "Somebody coming, and in a hurry." Pawnee arose slipped the quirt into his pocket, and sauntered over to the door "Right-o. Riding like some one was chasing him." In the adobe houses scattered along irregular streets a stir of excitement was indicating that the occupants of the houses had also sighted the horse man. "If this was in Uncle Sam s dominions now," s'aid Pawnee, "I'd venture that was a pony-express rider with a special message for you; but down here!" "A rurale, by his clothing," commented the scout. "Once more right-o. Your eyes are keen." In a few minutes it could be seen clec:.rly that the rider was in the uniform of the Mexican rurales. When he drew into the little town he came straight on to the adobe of the scout where he stopped. "The American senor, Buffalo Bill?" he asked. Buffalo Bill s tepped forward. "I'm called that," he answered. "Then I have here something for you of much importance." 1 The rurale dropped to the ground, felt in his pockets, and brought out a fl.at package. "From the c o mmander of the rurales at Punta Gorda." With \ bis pocketknife Buffalo Bill cut the cord that was round the package, and took out a sheet of paper. When he read what was on it he was given a great and unpleasant surprise: "This is to notify the American senor, called Buf ralo Bill who is now at Truxijlo, that several of his friends are at the place called El Toro, in the south ern Cross Timbers, and are ill with smallJ,10X. The names that have been brought to me are that o f a Ger7 man, difficult to spell but which I make out to be Schnitzenhauser together with the s e English names: Ralph Pierpont, Harvey Brice and wife and an Indian who is called Little Cayuse. None o f my rurales will go there, because they fear the dis ease, and it is di s tant. The El Toro Indians, it is said, have fled through fear and the A mericans are in a sad state. This is the 1 way the information ha s reached me. The American senor will know what i s bes t to d o But I may sug ge s t that, as he has written auth o rity from the Mexi can g ov ernment to penetrate into any part of that wil it may be well for him to organize a small party and g o to the help of his friends. In saying this I do not want to seem to do more than suggest it. But perhaps he and his friends will als o n o t care to go lest they be smitten with the disease. I am sending this by a s-Wift rider, one of my best men, Ignace Pavlon. At the present time it 'is all I can d o "With best wishes for the health of the American sefior, I am PABLO VITTORO, "Lieutenant of Rurales." I "News of importance, necarnis ?" questioned Paw. "Read that," said the scout, and gave him the let ter . He began to question the rider. "The information was brought by a Mexican who lived in the Cross Timbers and had fled out of them through fear of smallp ox Ignace Pav l o n e x plained. "But as I did not see him, I kn o w no m o re than that. He had the names on a slip 1of paper; and they had been written d o wn by one o f the Americans, who was not at the time ill of the disease." "I wish you had brought that writing to me, too," said the scout anxiously. "It :would but have repeated the names as they. are on the paper I brought," said Pavlon. "But by consulting the writing I c o uld hav e de termined which one of my friends is still on his feet," said the scout. "By this time none are in my opinion," said Pavlon; I "if they live they do well. l'awnee Bill had blown a sharp whistle of surprise. "Rather startling, eh?" Buffalo Bill said. "Astounding. With the exception of Schnitz and Little Cayuse, all ought to be in N e w Yark, according to our latest informati on. A nd even the Piute and the baron weren t expected to penetrate to El Toro." Buffalo Bill drew a n otebook and pencil and scrib bled a few words. "Give this to your commander, Pablo Vittoro with my thanks and c o mpliments. In it I assure him of my high appreciation o f his kindne ss." "And you will go to El Toro to help your friends?" Buffalo Bill, about to turn to Pawnee, shot the rurale a l o ok. "It is our duty" he said evasively. Then he addect, in his former manner: "But y o u are weary sen o r, with your hard ride, and your h o rse, like yo urself, needs rest. Will y o u not stay with us overnight? And tpe horse will in the stable." ., He called to a Me x ican b oy. Mati o put the gentleman's h o rse in the table, an d I


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. 5 feed and water him; but not too much feed at first, an

I 6 THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. along abot i t that time. They're acquainted with Brice duty like theii' s was t o watch the border, t o and with his wife. gun running into Me x ico by America\1 adventurer s "Yes, that's right. Having helped us to rescue But for two m o nths the insurrectos had been quiet Brice and his wife from Red out -Nomad said they were "dead in the shell;" so :for there, they would be wilting to act as guides for them. him and others there had been nothing d o ing. I guess, pard, that explains it." Unable t o endure the monotony longer t he b o rder"It's sure the milk in the coconut, necarnis. Down man had thrown saddle and bridle on his horse, Hidethere," continued Pawnee "they ran into smallpox rack, and set out for Truxillo. and got it themselves. A nd now--" ""I can hav e a tork wi' Buffier an' Pawnee, and He smoked up and stared tQ.oughtfully .at the wall. mebb yso git s ome news o ther baron an' Little Cayu se. "Well," he said abruptly, "our suspicions vani s h into The Dutchman an' ther Piute cert'inly played in luck, thin air. The message was the real goods. Arld of when Buffier let 'em p int out south 'ard ter lo o k fer course we 'v e got to go. Might as well ha v e satisfied recent tracks o f Ramon Corral; whate ver hez happened poor juvenile curio s ity, and told him we to 'em, they've been pr.ixerleged ter move round, an' would start to-morrow; for that is w.h;it we'll didn t have ter jest set; like an ol hen tryin' ter hatch "Yes." I aigs." The scout drew up to the desk that held writing He kicked 1 Hide-rack along the trail, and felt better materials, and rote an 9ther message to. the New becau s e he was moving. York law firm in which he ann b unced his intention "Give ther baron -er chainst, an' he ll stir things up, of starting the j ollowing day, or soo ner if he could, for you bet. Ne v er s een,-er man like ther baron fer thet. the Mexican Cross Timber s where Pierp ont and his Et's jes t bercuz he cain't re s t quiet nowhar. Et gits party were reported to be ill with smallpox. inter ther blood after er man hez been o n ther trail That will set some of' the goldbugs tumbling in 'long's we ha s E{ I've got ter sleep fer a week stiddy Wall Street!" remarked Pawnee, when he read what" wi' er rpof o ve r my head seems like I bergins the scout had written. sm o ther. Whoosh! Et feels plum' good ter git out That evening the message was sent off to Cajon. hyar whar yer kin smell the pines on ther mountains The scout had begun hi s and ha v e the wind eatin' inter yer face. Whoosh! "vVe'll start at. sunrise, he said. Et's o nc t m o re like li v in' !" "What about a d o ctor? Paw;nee inquired. But sudden!y the b o rderman drew in on the reins "I've learned that the one at Cajon is an ignorant of hi s h o r se. Mexican, that I wouldn t trust to doctor a horse; so S o me one in ther trail! Waugh! Jest when I we'll go mithout one. vVe'll take medicine s and every-thort s hore I war goin' ter have ther pleasure o' meetin' thing necessary that we can pack, and when we get up wi' a road agent, er ther like, et turns out ter be there we'll do the best we can. I can't right now plan it er w o man! Blame purty piece er c;aliker, though." out in any other way." Si ght o f a handsome young woman on the spirited "There's a medical work or two in the padre's horse who seemed to be barring the trail made old library," said Pawnee. "I'll go over there to-night, Nomad wish to turn out of it, though she was so un and if there's anything oft smallpox I'll see what it is." deniably g oo d-looking; yet he held steadily on. The padre's library had a good many medical books, It was so plain that she wished .to speak to him, he found, and he read until his eyes burned and the that a s he drew up he pulled off his heavy cap and lamp was exhausted. stopped hi.s horse. Snapping his watch open, ne looked at the time. She was young, dark-eyed, with a clear, dark com"Two o clock," he said, "and at five we start. Guess plexion, the cheeks showing a pink flush like rose I'd turn in for a few winks." petals. At daylight the scouts w re on the high trail lead-It did not escape the borderman's attention fhat a ing south from Truxillo. J carbine was tied across the saddle cantle, a revolver They had, besides their horses, two pack horses well rested in the holster, a cartridge belt zoned her waist, laden, and were also heeled as to weapons for the and her s hapely hands were covered with heavy leather region they were pointing for was notorious as being gauntlets. the nome ?f outlaws, none of w?om was worse than 1 The dark eyes flickered over him and his horse as the mysterious and dreaded bandit called Ramon if they took, at a glance, the measure of the animal and ral. its rider. CHAPTER III. THE MESSAGE OF OLD NOMAD. While Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill were at Truxillo old Nick Nomad, their trapper pard, was at the little mud hamlet of Cord d van, a day's ride, distant. His "You are Mr. Nomad?" she said, in a voice that w(#.s decidedly pleasant to hear. Nomad would have told you that he was er ladies' man;" yet the young woman's voice, as well as her beauty, quite captivated him. "Et's er cognomen I answers ter," he admitted; "yit seldom in jes t thet shape; more gin' rally et is Nick


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES; 7 Nomad." He laughed. "Sometimes et is 'Thet ol' fool, Nomad.' "I thought I wasn't mistaken," she said. "Though I never met you, I have had such good descriptions of you that I was sure I wasn't mistaken. Mr .Nomad, I have a message for you." Slipping off the gauntlet, she put her right hand into her bosom, and drew out an envelope. Nomad's thought w-as that something had happened to "Buffier ;" so he caught his breath, as he took the envelope and opened it. It was a message written in Spanish, addressed to Senor Nicholas Nomad. Even in English, old Nomad's education was of the scrappiest; but when it came to Spanish, though he could speak if like a native...:_that is ,like a Mexican-to read Spanish writing was another matter. He wrinkled his face over it1 dug his knuckles into his eyes, and looked again. Some of the words he could make out, and he got enough of them to give him a line on what the letter held. "Down in El Toro," he said. "Ez I makes this hyar out, young lady, some er my friends has had bad happen chances, down thet way." "They are ill with smallpox," said. "Waugh! S111allpox. Thet's wuss an' more of et. Ef you'll be so kind as ter spell et all out straight ter me I'll be obleeged. f Trouble is, lady, I chainced ter leave my readin' glasses back in my shanty, an' thet kinda ties up my readin' faculties, so s I don't git on well, and then ther stuff et is Spanish." She read the note to him in her mellifluous voice. Except that the wording was somewhat different, it was identical with the letter the rurale had brought to Bill at Truxillo; with addition: It stated that Buffalo Bill and Pawnee Bill were at El Toro. It was a very material difference, as can be seen. "Waugh!" Nomad breathed, when she concluded. ."Down in tl:iet pirate couhtry. I don't reckon thar can be any mistake about this, young lady?" "I can only give you the information that it con tains; personally I know nothing about it. But I am a. cousin of Mrs. Brice, and--" "Mebbyso, then," he said, when she stopped abruptly, "ye'll kindly eloocidate ter me ther why of their bein' down thar ?" "They went with Mr. Pierpont, to view the gold mine in the San Felipe foothills; then went on from there to see the copper deposits at El Toro. I came down here, instead, and have been stopping at Jaurez. You know where that is?" "Shore thing." "I have some friends at Jaurez; a11d I was to pay them a visit while Mr. Pierpont a.pd his party were down in the Southwest. They were to come through, overland, to Jaurez; then we were to return to New York together." "Plain ernough," said Nomad. "Only I don't see whe--" \ "Some of your friend::; were down there, and Mr. Cody and :Mr. Lillie joined them recently; that is the way I heard it. The news was brought to Jaurez two days ago When I heard it I was told that you: were stationed at Cordovan. So I tried to get some one to bring this letter to you; it was addressed to you, but was brought from the interior to Jaurez by ai1 Indian runner. No one would go. They were afraid of the insurrectos, so I came myself Nomad took the letter and looked it over again. "Et's a quar thing thet Buffler an' Pawnee should cut out from Truxi11o wi'out sendin' me word.' But I reckon et war a hurry call, and they didn't find time. Or p'raps they thought I ought to stay thar in Cordo van an' con tinner ter watch out fer gun runnin' ; and they knowed in reason I wouldn't ef I found out they had piked hasty fer ther south. Et must be ther way of et." "And I suppose you'll be going right now yourself?" / "Waal, I will. This is ther kind o' news thet will rnake me sling ther irons inter Hide-rack and hit only ther high places. Et's a good five days' journey down to thet El Toro country." A slight flush stained the cleflr pink of her cheeks. she said, "I shall make my request. I wa:i afraid you wouldn't go." Nomad looked at her doubtfully. .f "Eh?" "I want to go with you." "What is thet ?" "I'd like to go with you.'' "Waal, et prezackly er thet a lady c'

3 THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. Nomad shook his puzzled head, while he folded the letter and put it in his pocket. 'will ride right through, I 'll take that report fo my friends in Jaurez, an.cl be glad to." Then he recalled the fact that he had not learned the narhe of the young lady. "Yer handle ain t passed my way it ; I believe. Not thet I sh d mention et, but---" "You mean my name." "Yep." -"Nita 1tobo." 1 "Ther front p jrt of et ez purty as ye aire; but the f t' other--' He shook his head. -"You don't like it? That's too bad, you know; for, you see, I am not responsible for my name ."1 "Certin not," he admitted. "Still, Lobo is mighty good Spanish fer wolf." "And Nomad mea ns a wanderer. I have wondered if that can be your real name." "Anyhow," he said, "I hope thet your don t "I won't let n o grass grow under my feet / Nomad promised 1 "Then I caii. feel that I've done all that is humanly possible for me to do." She put out her gauntleted hand. l'Good-by, Mr. Nomad," she said, with a pe culiar inflection, that was not lost on his sensitive ear. "God be with ye, he as he gripped her small hand in his horny palm; 'thet's ther meanin o' them words! God be with ye-on er dangerous trail." A queer expression struck across her flushing Thinking .of it later, old Nomad wondered if it w,S an express ion of regret. CHAPTER IV. fit yer character same's my name does mine; seems INSISTENTNITA LOBO. lack I ain't done n o thin' but wander an' meander an' The o ld b o rderman drove Hide-rack no more tha.n trail round sense ever I can remember. An' hyar this an. h our o n the dim trail leading over the toward calls fer more of' et. Waal, fore I set out ter-day I distant E l T o ro b e fore he drew rein. He had been was hammerin' myself bercuz thet town war 'so dead troubled all the quiet, an' I had nothin' ter do. Looks like now I'm "Promis e s i s like pie cru s t," he muttered, "made ter goin' ter have er heap plenty." be broken. Et's an old sayin' Thet black-eyed han' "So you saY. I may go with you?" ome gal plum' bewitched me inter givin' ther promise, The borderman hesitated again. and now ole C ommon Sen s e is spurrin' me ter break "I ain't goin' to say that ye can. P'intedly et et. I reckon a s h o w Comm o n Sense is bound ter win wouldn't be right. Y ou1 d git smallpox, er mebby wuss ther game things would happen. I cain't be reesponsible fer ye He t o ok off hi s cap, and, as when in her presence, in thet line. I'm. expectin' hard work, an' maybe er scratched thro ugh his iro n-gray hair,.in puzzled fashion. k>t of danger. miss-sorry ter say et-but jest "Seem s lil{e er fo o l trick fer me, ole Nomad, ter go now I has got te? say no traipsin' off to El T o ro without> stoppin' ter investerShe shrugged her shoulders. gate; whet et is five days bad travelin' to El Toro, an' "What if I follow you? Just a little way beaind, les-s'n a day woulP. take meter Truxillo. She war onyou know!" common purty, an' she looked plum' truthful. So, "Don' t do et-don't try et." what's ter be did?" 1 "Y wouldn t desert me?" He pulled Hide-rack rou!i.d as the final result; and; "Miss, I'd have to." finding the spur of the trail that led to Truxillo, he His cap was still off, and he ran his hands through took that. To make up for the delay, and because, now his tangled, silvering hair. that he had l e t his imagination loose, he began to feel "Tell ye what I'll do-and et is ther proper thing; that something was wrong, he rammed the irons into I'll escort ye back to Jaurez. Thet won't be so much Hide-rack with such. fervor that Truxillo was gained outer my way. Then I can ride on over ter Truxillo, after nightfall. an' mebbyso git a line on some facts I'a like ter know Throwing himself out of the saddle before the adobe erbout why Buf-fler a n' Pawnee desarted me-fer thet that had housed Buffalo Bill aad Pawnee, he strode is what they did on this 'casion up to the door and hammered on it. The droop of her eyes showed that for a.-moment "Hello!" he said to the sleepy-eyed peon who apshe was in a brown study. peared. "I has come inkwirin' fer Buffler." "No," she declared, "I can't let you do that; it would !;le changed _to w.hen tpe peon you must go right on south without Ah, the Senor It 1s more day now pmg. Ill return alone to Jaurez. Of course y o u un-that he has been gone derstand anxious I am about my friends who are '1Then the thing I heard was true!'! exclaimed the in trouble at El Toro. I could be of service to them,. borderman, sticking to Mexican. "I had word that if I could go with you." he had set out with Major Lillie for El Toro. Is that Nomad still hesitated; it hurt him .to feel that he true?" could not accede to the wishes of this woman. "It is true, senor; they departed but yesterday morn-"It is so imp ortant that you should reach El Toro ing in a hurry. They had received a message--" as soon as possible," she added, "that.if you say ypu "Er waugh !'' Nomad ripped out, drop{>ing back into \


I THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. 9 his characteristic "So I'm er mutton-headed Nita Lobo then I'm shore a wolf myself! What kin fool, arter all! But still--" she be

IO THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. Ile shuffled off with the horse and hobbled it by E i de-rac;k ; then returned to the fire. "'I'll put some more worter in thet ole coffeepot," he remarked, "and some pore. meat in thet fryln' pan; enough fer two." "So you're going to be kind about it, and let me go on with you?" "Cain't help et, can I?" He tried to laugh. Crouched on tQ.e stone by the leaping fire, with the dark hill for a 13ackground, the red sun of morning shining on her, she made a pleasant picture, even for \ eyes as old as Nomad's. She wore a short riding skirt of blue, a round blue hat, and the 1eather gaunt lets already mentioned; and still round her waist was the fluted cartridge belt. There was a knife thrust through it, he observed; but her carbine and revolver were on the saddle. "Fer a woman, ye look plum' warlike,'' he declared, trying: to smile, though he was still very mqch per turbed. "That's a compliment? Thank you, then.'' "You ain't never been out in er mounting wilderness like this ?" "Never. So I think I shall enjoy it." "\i\Taal," he said slowly, "p'raps so--I'm hopin' so." "Why did you go back to Truxillo?" she surprised him by asking, as they ate breakfast together. "Was it because you distrusted me?" Nomad stared at her. "However did you connect up with thet informa tion ?" he demanded. "A little bird told me." "I allow thet parrot war yerself ," he said bluntly; "t allow thet you saw whar ther hoofs of ole Hide rack cut in from thet side trail leadin' off -ter Truxillo. Ef so be--" He shot her a suspicious glance. "Yes?" she said, pouring coffee into her collapsible drinking cup. so, be, then, he declared, "you know er thing er two-you s!Tore knows the look of' ther hoofmark o' a shod boss; an' war able ter recklect what kinda marks Hide rack made over whar fust off I met ye." "Then what?' she asked, studying the coffee she had poured "\tVaal, I s'pose et is all right; but et's ther fust time I ever war made akwainted wi' ther fact thet in ther schools o'. New Y o;k they set forth sech intellectooal courses o' study.'' She laughed and tried the coffee. "Perhaps I didn't tell you that I took a course of study once down here in Mexico-under a Mexican caballero." "No, ye didn't." "I camped out last night on the side of the mountain where that trail frorri Truxillo joins this main trail. I won t fool you any longer. Along in the night you passed, and woke me; and I saw you in the moonlight. So" -she finished the coffee-.-"! don't know so much about hoofmarks as you thought, after all." "Waugh!'' "Isn't that satisfactory." "Shouldn't think thet you'd like ter camp out thet way alone, bein' a woman." "I have good blankets in that roll behind my saddle--if that is what you mean; I was comfortable enough." '.'An' ther kyotes didn't skeer ye?" "I heard none.'' "Waal," he said, hesitating, "I can say this-I like pluck, in mah er woman; and you has shore got et." "And you will let me go on with you, witho\lt ob .. j ecting ?" "I reckon I has got to," he grinned "I reckon I ought ter be plum' excited over ther idee, tew o' havin' sech good comp'ny." He proceeded to get up the horses when they had finished; and she watched him. Turning to look at her, he fancied that she had a strange and mournful smile. . "Waal, anyhow," he muttered, "she's gritty, an' I shore cain't let her go on alone. She s detarminea ter go, an' she needs some un ter look out fer her. Goin' ter be war tork, rriebbyso, 'fore we git through; which troubles me ter think erbout. I'm wishing she had stayed in Jaurez. I reckon thet new wife of Harvey Brice ought ter be proud ter own a cousin who will take sech resks to git to her, so's she can help in this hyar time of trouble." He mumbled all the arguments over, pro and con, as he brought up the horses. He had decided to permit Nita Lobo to go on with him, but qe was not satisfied with his act, nor entirely satisfied with the girl herself. CHAPTER V. T H E Y A(N K E E A thing as queer happened to Buffalo Bill and Pawnee as they pressed on over the wild trail en route to El Toro. Also, there were in it some points of resemblance. A series of Indian yells arose, clamorous as the out burst of a band of coyotes. "Ki-yis !" said Pawnee, and slipped the loop of his rifle off his shoulders, then balanced the weapon in his hand, ready for use. Buffalo Bill also got his rifle ready, and eased the that rested against his thighs. "Indians chasing something," he said. "And that something is certainly human, from the tone of that screeching." "No doubt of that, pard." A clattering of hoofs sounded. Round a bend in the trail came a horse'man riding at top speed-a white man, tall and angular. He rode stiffly, and the tail o f


.. THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. I I a long linen dus!._er flapped out in the wind like a signal of distress behind him. ... 1 Half a dozen Indians, riding Mexican mustangs of a size so small that by comparison the riders seemed giants, came into view, also, behind the horseman. "When it comes to white against the red I lay my money on the white without investigating," ... declared Pawnee Bill. His rifle barked, and thj! dust of the bullet was seen in the trail, right before the Indian who led. Buffalo Bill sent another shot, and the Indians began to pull back on their hackamores. By this time the white man was at hand, his heels pounding the sides of his rawboned horse, his elbows pumping the air like the wings of a bird. "Whoa!" he bellowed, pulling in; "whoa, consarn ye!" The rawboned animal came to a stop so sudden ly that the rider nearly went over its head. Before giving the man a close look, Pawnee Bill sent three or four bullets, aiming them high and had the satisfaction of seeing the redskins wheel their mus tangs and get back out of sight. The man had by that time dropped to the ground. He was a rawboned Yankee, wearing a billy-goat beard. At the moment, thougii, his staring blue eyes, that seemed popping out o1 his head, were the most noticeable feature of his homely face. "I swan tew man!" he ejaculated, as he tried to get hi$ brj!ath. "I tha.ught fer a "3pell the heathen had me!" "They were calling your name rather loud," remarked Pawnee. "It's a mercy that yeou men was here, all right! Still, I was doin' some tall ridin', naow, you notic<:;d." "I think we had better get back a little," urged the scout. "Do you know who those redskins were any-thing about then\" f "I knpw much as I want tew know. They come at me jest like wild cats, raound the bend there; and I kited. Thetli they begun to yell like all git-aout, and shot arrows at me. One went through my hat." pulled it off-a very disreputable piece of h'ad wear-and proudly exhibited a hole in the crown. They were moving back with their horses, putting a rocky shoulder of the hill between them and the Indians. "I think I'd better scatter ouf, pard," said Pawnee, "while you entertain our friend; otherwise, those ki-yis may try to sneak on us." The scout n9dded as Pawnee, with rifle dropped'into the hollow of his arm, left the trail, off on the right, and began to work his way along under cover of some bushes. .''It'.s a surprise to us," remarked the scout, "to encounter any T.hite man in this region." . "I want tew know! Well, it's ruther a surprise to me to meet you two men; a pleasant under the circumstances I was travelin' sol.1th, and those heathens seemed to be travelin' north, and that's how we met, I reckon. Or they may've seen me and come fer me, jest b ecause it their way. I ain't never had much experience with Indians, but if them painted heathens aire samples I-{ion t want ter accumulate any, nuther." "From the / slight view we had of them think they are Talis : But they belong rather to the west and south of this. They used to be warlike, and made a good deal of trouble, until they came under the in fluence of certain bandits and were made to work in a mine; that took the spirit out of them." "I allaow they've sent for it again, and it has <;pme," avowed the Y anhe. \ "Beg pardon," he added, a second "but I rilly don't know what yer name is, that of your friend; introductions might be in order, yeou know-under the circumstances.'' '-'My name is Cody," saicLthe scout, "but I'm perhaps better known as Buffalo Bill. My friend is Major Lillie-known to fame and the newspapers as ..Pawnee He smiled. "I want tew know!" "Your name might be in order now-under circumstances." "Me? Ever'body knows me, or has heard of me; I'm Adam." "Last name, or first name?" "That's all of it; jest A4am." :, "Perhaps you will be willing to tell me what you are doing down here." The stranger laughed-a "ha! ha!" that rolled out queerly. vum, that's queer naow," he declared; "fer I was jest goin' tew ask yeou that question. What be yeou a-doin' here, ef yeou don't ob_iect to answerin' ?., "We were heading for El Toro." "I vum So was I." "What did Y.OU expect to find there?" demanded the scout, beginning to study the face of the Yankee more closely. "Land sakes-it's jest what I was goin' tew ask yeou What be yeou g'

12 THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. ( The Yankee tapped his breast. in here ," he said; ' it's inspiration. You 've read of me-in the Bible. Fus t man, yeou know! Why, rilly come tew think of it, yeou must be related tew me. 1 "Crazy as a water bug thought Buffalo Bill. "So," the man went on "as ye ou're goin' on down to El Toro, an' I am h'istin myself in the same direc tion, ther ain't no good reason, ez I can see, why we can't jine forces and jest go 11ight on togetper. That is," he added stooping and peering out into the trail "if them pesky red heath ns d on't thjnk that they ve got a call to interfere. \ "You didn t expect to encounter Indians? "Gad h o ok, n o I'd 'a' looked fer some other way of gittin da ow n tpere if I had He sto o ped and peered again . "I had to go down, ye know. Ever sense I was turned out o that garden I've been tryin' tew find it again." "Lots o f men said the scout, and he did not smile now, "lo s e the Road to Happiness and fail ever to find it "Don' t I know it-don't I kn o w it? He bobbed his head so hard that his billy-goat beard snapped like a flag of di s tress. 1 "I wonder, he added, "if that partner of youfn ain't goin tew run into tro11ble oi1t there? There was a snake in the Garden, ye know; and I s'pose it's natural tew find bad spirits hanging round on the out skirts of it. Indians aire bad spirits if they ever was any in this w o rld. Say did yeou hear 'em yell ? Pawnee Bill came back as silently as he had de parted. "They're out there ," he reported "beyond the bend; but they aren\ showing any tumultuous signs of want ing to rus h on our rifle s He looked at the tall Yankee. "My frjend Adam said the scout quietly with a gra v e face; "he says he is d o wn here searching for the Garden of Eden." The hand that Pawnee had clasped dropped out of his, so astounding was the statement. "Eh? Did I get that, necarnis ? ((That's right," said the Yaf'\kee, w agging hi s bill y goat whiskers again; ' ye got it if y our he a rin i s good. And the fact that I've met ye and am go i n' o n with ye makes it sure that the heathen won t git me, and that I'll find it." "The Biblical Garden of Eden-that's what you mean? Pawnee asked, a bit bewildered. "I never heard of another Yes, that's the one. And this time I've a feel in' that I'm go in' find it." He thumped his breast. "What kind of a proposition is it that we're stacked up against?" Paw nee Bill a s ked as soo n a s he found a chance f o r a w ord with Buffalo Bill. "You see for y o urself." "Bats in his belfry, eh? "It's tqe only conclusion-unless--" "\t V h a t ? "He ha s a card up hi s s leeve. Pawnee Bill questioned the Yankee after th a t, watch ing him the while But if the man wa s pla y ing a game all that Pawnee could make out wa s that he was shrewd very. For an hour the scouts, with the Y ankee, remained in c o ncealment, their animals also under cover; but no attack came from the Indians. CHAPTER VI. THE YANKEE P UZZLE. 1 Indications that the Talis lingered in the trail be yond kept Buffalo Bill from advancing at o nce. Finding them s till there ,' after he had made another prospecting trip, he. decided to camp in the trail for the night. It did not please the Yankee. I v um ," he cried, "yeou re fraider of the heathen than I be! It's becau se your hearts ain t right. Go right along an the Lord will pertect ye. Y eou recklect them Scriptu.re words: 'One shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten t ousand to flight.' Samson he went forth with the jawbon e of an ass and smote the Philistines hip and thigh; yeou've read abaout it, and you-" "We' ve got the jawbone of an ass in the camp, all right," muttered Pawnee turning to Buffalo Bill, without hearing the rest of the Yankee's 1 grumbling sentence. 1 The scout, who was attending to the needs of Bear Paw, his horse, looked at the Yankee with a penetrat ing eye. "He puzzles you?" said Pawnee. "I am w q ndering if he is the loony that he seems to be." Pawnee flung the Yankee a questioning remark: A while ago, when you bolted into view here, you didn' t appear to be as much of a hero as now; how is that? Why didn't you turn round and smite tQ.e Philistines hip and thigh, instead of making tracks like a scared cat?" "Every man has backslidiu' times," said the Yan kee unaba s h e d "and mine happ e ned along about that tin )e. I hadn t got well used tew Indian yells and singin arrows " You will pro b a bly get used to them if you remain with us. "I ruther expect tew. I'm goin' tew stay by ye. But I can t help thinkin' that if we could hurry on this e v enin' we d git to that Garden of Eden quicker. So it grinds me tew camp daown an' waste a whole night here. I hope yeou u derstand me." "I'm ble s t if I do," Paw nee muttered. Pawnee Bill s t oo d guard the fir s t half of the night while Buffalo :$ill s lept. The Yankee was supp os e d t o be s leeping, t oo ; but Pawne e dis c ov ered that he rolle d restlessly, and now and then g o t up and walked about.


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. 13 "If y o u will s tick t o your blanket and g e t so me s leep, Paw nee adv ised "it will be better for you." I keep hearin' that voice in here," said the Y ankee, tapping his bosom; "that vo ice urgin' me t e w ha s ten on tew the Garden of Eden." "You will reach it as quickl y Pawnee urge d "by taking rest and sleep when you can get it During the latter half of the night, when Buffalo Bill stood guard over the trail camp, the Yankee ex hibited the same restlessness, rising time s and roaming round. . The s c out, like Pawnee, advised him to stick to his blanket. Shortly before morning when that darke s t h our before dawn held s w ay Buffal o Bill discover e d that the Yankee was miss ing. The blanket r oll s eemed s till to contain him-it wa s bunched into a heap-but the Yankee had slipped out of it. But the Yankee came back in half an h o ur, slipping into the camp as softly as he\ieparted. He tried t o get into his blanket without being seen by the s c o ut, but failed; the scout was standing close beside hi m and spoke, apparently to the Yankee s surprise. "I vum," he said, "yeou dew move raound pesky sly an' spry!" "No more than you do," the s c o ut returned. The Yankee sat up with his blank e t round him. "Why did you leave the camp a while ago?" the scout asked. "B'jing, I didn t think yeou noticed that!" wa s ad mitted. "Yeou've got eyes like a cat, ain t ye?" "When I'm on guard I usually know what i s going on in my camp. Why did you leave it?" "Waal, naow, I'll jest explain that. Ye when ever I lay my head on the ground here I can hear them Indians-Philistines, I mean; seems like I can, any haow. If I ain t been mi s took, they 've pryin' raound here all night. S o I thought I'd jes t run aout and take a look to see if I was right abaout it." "You didn t see any?" "No, I didn't. And I can't hear 'em, only when I. lay .my ear agin' the graound. Going to the other side of the camp, the Scout tested this by his ear to the gro und; but h e h ea rd n oth. ing. "That fellow will bear watchin g," wa s hi s c o nclu sion. In the morning the Talis had ap p arentl y departed, so the scout and Pawnee bro ke camp and took again their way southward, but moving s l o wly and with e x treme caution. The Yankee was voluble and erratic. At the approach of e v ening Talis were again di s covered. Seemingly they had all day silently retreate d ahead of the s mall party in the h ope that in som e nar row pass they could make a successful attack. A second night the scout s camped in the trail with their animal s o n pick e t ropes o n the gras s beside it; and, as before, Pawne e Bill to o k the fir s t wat c h . To all appearances the Yankee slept soundly through th e fir s t half of the night. But when Buffalo Bill s tood guard and morning was approaching, he saw the tall figure roll softly out of the blanket and as softly roll out of the camp. As soon a s the Yankee had disappeared Buffalo Bill woke Pawnee and informed him. "Stay by the camp while I follow him," he whis pered. "Necarnis, I'm on the job," answ_ered Pawnee; "make a hurry hustle, so that he can t get too far ahead of you. The great scout flitted after the Yankee silent as a shadow, while Pawnee Bill began to walk the beat in the camp. Apparently the Yankee, after prowling about outside, went round the camp, and came in at the other end. Buffalo Bill came back at ab o ut that time. "Lillie," he began, then stopped; for he saw the Yankee, who ha.cl also entered. "Yo u were out of the camp again," said the scout, ste p ping up t o him. The Yanke e ga v e his bill y -g o at beard a tug, as it in the darkness; then laughed. "Gin'ral restlessness," .h,e fxplained, "an' thinkin' abaout that Garden of Eden." The scout struck a match making the pretense that he wanted to light a cigar. He did light the cigar, and at the same time flashed the illumination of the match in the face of the Yankee. He thought he caught a queer gleam in the Yankee's dark eyes and a sarcastic, yet cunning look on the homely face "Ruther re s ky tew do that the Yankee objected. "If some o' them Philistines should happen tew !'ee ye they migh,t slam arrows into us yeou know. And," he added slowly, "if yeou g o round with that cigyar sh o win' a red coal o' fire in the night, 'twould be a signal fer danger; same as flaggin' it tew come yeour way, seems tew me." 8 The scout was on the point of boldly denouncing the Yankee as an impostor at least but checked the words. He had no proof-as yet; nothing but sus picions, and they were of the vague s t charact e r. Adam" rolled l in his blanket, as the s cout walked o ver for a talk with Pawnee. "I was to your talk with that specimen," s aid Pawnee. "What do you make of him?" A lunatic or a secret enemy." "Maybe both. Your idea was that he might be slip ping out to meet some one beyond the camp?" "'But I found no proof of it. Still, I am sure that those Talis are again hanging round to-night. I heard a ru s tling in the bu s hes, and I thought I heard voices. But as the Yankee was coming into the camp on this s ide at the same time, he couldn't have been talking with any of them." "It1s a queer thing that they hang round and fail t o ;nake an attack. We have evidence that they ceded us by day in the trail, and play snake round us


14 THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. at night. A.nd I thought y o u were going t o get evi dence that the Yankee visited them and talked with them." "Which would have proved hip:i a renegade of the blackest character, planning to deliver us into the hands of Indian de v ils who are too cowardly to attack us boldly!" "I don't forget," added Pawnee "that when we first saw him he was running away from these same ki-yis." "That might have been a ruse to throw us off our guard-make us sure that he could not be in with them; I've thought of that, too." "Well, all we can do necarnis is to watch him, un less we kick him out of the camp. And, of course," he added, "so long as we have nothing but wild guesses to back that action we couldn't; it would throw him into the hands of the Talis, if they are his foe s as well as ours." "Turn i-n," said the scout, "and I'll stand my watch out." Pawnee preferred to stand it out with him. But-it passed uneventfully. CHAPTER VII. THE PUZZLE CONTINUES. I Traveling at top speed, in spite of the fact that the dark-eyed young woman rode with him, old Nomad covered the trail so rapidly that he hit Buffalo Bill's camp this same morning shortly after daybreak. "Hooroar he yelled, as he sighted it. "You've been buckin', Hide-rack, 'cause I has been slingin' the irons inter ye and didn't give ye enough eatin' time; but now ye see ther result. Buffier ferever Hooroar Yit--" An Indian, crouched behind a rock, shot a,n arrow at him, and slid out of sight. "Still, said the trapper, taking a snap shot with his pistol at the vanishing redskin, "et is a cur'us wonder thet Buffier and Pawnee sh'd be hyar, er even hyar abouts when they ought ter be down at El Toro buckin' smallpox This is er deescrepancy thet needs ter--" I f He w as flin gi n g hi s comments to the young woman who rode stre nuou s l y at his side, and wh o ducked and dodged w h e n an arrow sang at them out of the rocks beside the trail. Buffalo Bill and Paw nee were even more astonished by the coming of the o ld trapper and the young woman. They didn't know who the woman was, and\ Nomad, according to their late s t information, was, or had been, at Cordovan, guarding the border there against gun runners. "Hooroar !" the borderman yelled again, jumping from his saddle and running upon the scouts with b o th hands extende d "Co rraled in yere by Injuns aire ye? and me bustin' 'em, when I didn't know they kar thar Still, et ain't whar I looked ter see ye, fi.ot by a long shot. Buffier, Pawnee, this hyar is Miss Nita Lobo-which I d on't like ther L o bo part of et-ther neatest trimmest y o ung oman I has trav eled with in many er day. Allus cheerful, no marter; allus ready ter eat hardtack when she cain t have c o rn pone an' biscuit ; allu s ready ter ride a ll da y an all night, ef s o be I think s I ha s got ter git right al ong; allus ez purty t oo, as ye see her right this m i nute A s to her story, I ll tell et later; but th.is hyar will do fer er "Where dew I come in at?" asked Adam, as this sin gular introduction was being ackn o wledged He came forth at, the side of the trail. Nomad flung the tall a glance, and apparently did not approve of him. "Whyever--" But he stopped right there. "You go on with yer handshakin' and g i ttin' akwainted he said, "while I jest drap back in th e r trail and see what has bercome of them ki-yis what ar throwin' arrers at me. Seems ter me ye re kinda keerless, with them reds round ye." The tall Yankee followed him with hi eyes "Who is that?" he said. "That," answered Pawnee, "is Nick Nomad, king .pf borderinen." I "Oh!" "The more you know him, the better yo b like him ; and the better you know him, the more you like him. "Yes I thought so. He extended his hand to the young woman. "I was willing to ride as hard as I could," s he said "because I am so extremely anxious to reach El T o r o, and be of service to my friends there. Their conditi o n must be telrible." "Loo kin' fer the Garden of Eden, too," .said the tall Yankee. T o o bad fer all of us, that them. pe s ky Phili s tines is in the way." He began to tell her of his search for the Garden of Eden. "I know now it's at El Toro," he declared, beating his breast; "and I want tew git there jes t a s quick s I can She turned away, but he followed her, and c o n tinued to talk of the Garden of Eden. Nomad came back, his face shining with the delight he felt because he had met his old pards of the trail. "Queer thing, and I'd like ter understand et," he said. "Queer that y o u didn't see any ki-yis ?" said Pawnee. "Well, we' v e found them an odd bunch of thie v es, take them by and large." "Not thet," sa,jd Nomad. "Et is thi s : Whyever, ef you an' Buffier ahe d ow n with smallpo x at E l Toro can ye be hyar, sound and well?" "You heard that?" said Pawnee with a start. "Et war in ther letter thet she brought me. Hyar et is." 1 He drew it out. "Odd enough,' said Pawnee, when he had read it. "1 didn't want her ter hit ther trail with me," said


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. IS Nomad, "but she would; she hung back, pertending ter return to Jaurez, and connected up "'7ith me, at a p'int whar I jest natcherly couldn't set her adrift, on account o' ther dangers. Yit I must say, sense thet time she has been a dead-game young woman. An' purtyl You has sized up ther extent o' her beauty, Pawnee?" "A handsome young woman: But I think she is Mexican, or part Mexican." "Don't make no diff'rence ef she is Injun, she's a han'some piece er caliker; my eyes ain't too old ter see thet. But, Pawnee, take et all. round, this hull thing is a quar piece o' biz. Now, this critter thet is with you?" "We collected him in the same way-when we didn't want him." Pawnee explained briefly, and told also of the su? picious things noticed. "Only two kinds o' men," said Nomad, "would be huntin' fer ther Gyarden of Eden: A' lunytic what believed in et, and a man what war bluffin' through a game, with cyards and bowie knives up his sleeve. Waugh! Thet is ther truth." The Talis who had been hanging round the camp, and had proved their presence by sending arrows at old Nomad, disappeared as quietly as befor,e. Apparently, again they had gone on t)1e E l Tqro trail. The old borderman insisted on going ahead, to "cl'ar the way." "Injuns don't trouble me none," he argued, "fer, yer see, I has fit 'em, 'em, camped with 'em, and even lived with 'em. So I know 'em frum ther grass roots up. An' ef these hyar snoopin' Talis aire plannin' any Injun tricks--" He had pointed the nose of old Hide-rack into the trail, and rode off, kicking the flanks of the Jtorse, while his keen eyes searched the land ahead of him. Across his saddle before him rested his rifle, gripped in his sinewy hand. But he found no Talis. When the journey El Toroward was taken up, the girl dropped in beside the Yankee. This was a matter of course. For the Ji>arty rode two and two, with the scouts ahead, following old Nomad. What they discoursed about neither Pawnee hor Buffalo Bill knew, but now and then the Yankee was heard to say something about the Garden of Eden. At the noon camp the girl and the Y ar1kee kept apart, as if the ride of the morning had been distaste ful and they desired no further intimacy of that sort, when it could be avoided. But the Yankee helped her to mount to her saddle, as Pawnee was about to offer his services, and Pawnee q1ught this remq.rk: "They're good rpen !" This was said by the girl. The reply of the man seemed to be something about the Garden of Eden. / "Ah!" he said, as if suddenly observing Pawnee. "vVe've been makin' good I cal'late a couple more days ought tew put us there, don't yeou ?" -. "You've been over this route before?" said Pawnee. "Never!" "Nor have we. But some information we received at starting makes us believe that we are coming now to some mighty rough going." The Yankee cackled his peculiar laugh. "Jordan is a hard road to travel. But yeou can't expect the approaches tew the Garden of Eden to be easy, can ye, naow ?" The girl flushed under Pawnee's gaze. "If we could all be as sure," she sa id, "of reaching the Garden of Eden some time as our friend is!" "All ye have tew do is jest tew keep a-goin'," de clared the Yankee. "Every road has got tew have an endin', no matter haow long it is." "y OU seem to be a philosopher, at any rate," said Pawnee, rather at a l oss for an answer. "I want tew know!" r The Yankee laughed again, and somehow that cut along Pawnee's nerves. When tlie evening camp was made; the girl and the Yankee dropped down on.. a stone tbgether at'Une side of the camp, and apparently continued a conver sation that had been begun on the trail They had been heard talking in tones had seemed serious, and this was a continuance of it. At the girl arose, giving her dress an angry shake. Her eyes were bright as she came over to the fire that Pawnee Bill was kindling. "He annoys you, does he?" said Pawnee. "I admit that at times the things he says, and his laugh, are rather irritating ; though, when you analyze them and your own feelings, always there seems to be no good ground for "Yes," she admitted, as if drawing thoughts back from a distancJ, "he does irritate me at times, just as he does you." "But if he is insane!" "Yes, of course," she "if the man is insane, anything he says 9r does ought to be forgiven." "But is he insane?" Pawnee asked She at Him. "What do you think?" "I'm going to be charitable, and give him the benefit of the doubt." / After the evening meal, while the night thickened over the camp, she sat apart again, talking with the Yankee; apparently, if judged only by wha;: could be seen, she was trying to discover for herself whether the Yapkee was insane or was a fraud. This night Nomad stood guard the first half. The second watch was taken by Pawnee, and he was sure that the Yankee was asleep at the time. Throughout the night Pawnee kept his eyes more or less on the blanketed r form of the Yankee. The Talis made no demonstration, and the night was one of quiet. I In the morning the Yankee was still in his blanket.


ro THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES He roused up and asked a question, as Pawnee, walk ing his beat, passed him. But when full day had dawned, and the time came for all to rise, it was found that the girl was gone. "\!Vaugh!" rumbled Nomad, when the news was bbrne to him. "I brought her hyar, and--" He stood up and looked round. "Waal," he added, "I reckon she'll be hyar in er minute." But the girl did not return. CHAPTER VIII. THE MYSTERIOUS YAN KEE. When a search for Nita Lobo was unfruitful, Buf falo Bill and his friends were not only puzzled, but somewhat at a loss to know what to do. They feared that she had wandered ouf of the camp and fallen into the hands of the Talis, though throughout the night no Talis had been heard. Apparently as anxious is any one was"the Yankee. "She) in the hands of the Philistines," he said. insisted on making another search, and went out of the camp alone, refusing to be dissuaded. He came back as the horses were being made ready for the trail. "Didn't. see her, and seen no Philistines," he reported. There were still no Talis in evidence as they took up the trail that morning. Nor were any seen through out the day. That night Pawnee Bill courted the embrace of the blankets and dewy-eyed slumber; for he was tired out, and Bill, with the borderman, took all the guard work. Twice during his hours of watching the s out slipped out of the camp and prowled roqnd it in silence, under the belief that he had heard Indian voices near, and had even heard men crawling. When he came back the second time he found that the blankets of the Yankee were empty. Promptly he went out again; but not until he had roused old Nomad and left him watching in the dark ness. This time Buffalo Bill had better luck than before. He located a low grumble of voices. Creeping in that direction, though he saw nothing, he heard the voice of the Yankee, and then the voice of a Tali Indian. "He h1s found the Garden of Eden here," thought the scout, "and it is inhabited by redskins." He crawled closer, and though the voices rose clearer, so that he was sure he was not mistaken, he still could not make out what was said; it was in Tali, and a difficult language to him, familiar as he was with so many Indian dialects. "Plotting with the Talis for the capture of the camp," was his conclusion, as he crawled back into it. "I've got to awaken Pawnee." He roused Pawnee, and informed him, with Nomad, of the nature of his discovery. "This hyar Gyarden of Eden lunytic seems ter be a reg'lar tinhorn," grumbled the borderman. / "A renegade white man, which is worse," said the scout. "Ef he comes back I sets my fingers into his neck!" "We'll see what he says, or does-if he comes back." "Say he is a fraud and a renegade, do you savvy his game, necarnis ?" asked Pawnee. "He intends to betray us into the hands of the Tatis -that's all I can make of it now. My judgment is that they're too to make a bold attack; but are crazy to get at/us; and he has joined us for the purpose of helping them, when the chance comes." "And he thinks it has come now?" "Perhaps. We'll see as to that." "Thet gal bein' named Lobo !" said Nomad, who had long worried over that. "Does et mean anything?" "No more than it me1lns a man is cruel and sneak ing because his name happens to be Wolf. Still--" "Waal, et has got me ter miilin'." "I've been thinking, as we talked here," said the scout. "I was standing guard, you know, and you two were asleep, or supposed to be. So now if you will drop back into your blankets I will go over by that rock and sit down there. I'll make a pretense that I am sleepy. We'll see if anything happens." He slipped away, and the two men rolled in their blankets; but they were very wide awake, with hands clutching revolvers. Ten minutes the Yankee came softly intp the camp. In the darkness the could be seen; and the fact that he made not a sound in stepping told that he had removed his shoes. Slowly and silently he passed close by the forms in the blankets, bent with a jerk, heard the snores they sent up, and passed on, in the direction of the rock where the scout sat now with his Stetson shading his face. The Yankee paused before the scout, ducked as if listened; then straightened and slipped off again. When once more he came in sight four or five In dians were with him. They were crawling, while he slipped along in a stooping position. First they came toward Buffalo Bill, apparently for the purpose of making sure of him. The scout waited until the Yankee and the redskins were right in front of him. Then the revolver he held went off with a startling report, and he jumped like a tiger at the throat of the Yankee. Nomad and Pawnee Bill threw aside their blankets and came to their feet. As they did so, they saw the Indians scudding into the gloom, and saw Buffalo Bill drop on his.. face, then the Yankee gave a leap right over him, and faded. When Pawnee Bill and the reached the scout's side they found that he had been knocked down and rendered unconscious by a blow on the head. As the Indians anti the Yankee were gone, they did not try bo follow them; but while Pawnee ga v e his


-THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. 11 attention to the scout'Nomad hustled to the hors es, that for security had been held in the camp that night. The report of the revolver had set the animals jump ing, but the voice of Nomad quieted them. Seeing that they were still safe, the borderman ran over to the side of Pawnee "Thet war a raw deal of a play," he grunted. "I6 Buffier--" "Right side up with care, yet said the sc out, trying to stagger to his feet, supported by the arm of Pawnee Bill. "It was a razzle-dazzle of a--Hope y o u aren t hurt much, necarnis "Not hurt declared the scout l e aning again s t the rock. / "Just as well as ever with your head dented in and blood all over your face; yes, tou sure look it! Here, take a nip of this." Pawnee drew his and held it up, and the scout put it to his lips. -"Ther wine o' life, when a feller needs et c o m mented Nomad; "and ther wust kinda foolish water, when he don't. However did thet tinhorn do et, any how?" "I was too 'sure of him," said the scout; "that is the way I explain it. I fired my. pistol to scare the Tali s ; there were five of them I think and they were mak ing a sneak on me, right behind the Yankee. Then I jumped at him, and he-was too quick for me, so got the butt of his revolver right there"-he put up his li.and-"and down I went." "Waugh!" Nomad breathed. "Ther pizen whelp -the A-one liar-the-" "As I'm all right n o w, Nomad," said the sco ut, "jus t bottle your words, and get onto the job of watching; those rascals might pull their courage together and come back. There are m o re than five Tali s round this camp." "It's a strange deal said Pawnee, when Nomad had started to obey; "if they wanted to kill us, they might have done it by shooting into us, either by day or night." "They seem to be armed only with bows and arrows-mighty p oor we a pons for warfare, you' l agree; though that they have kniv_es I had ocular demonstra tion a while ago At a guess, I s hould say though, that they don't want us dead, but alive." From the Yankee, Pawnee's thoughts bounded to the girl. "Nita Lobo?" he said. / I>id her disappearance have anything to do with this attempt against the camp?" "Just how? That blow on the head has woolgath ered me, you see; so if I don t follow you--" "It came to me merely as a suggestion, necarnis," said Pawnee, as he emptied his canteen on the scout's wound, and tried to bathe it, "that she might have had a hand in it this way: The Indians hadn't' been seen or heard for a long time, you recall. Now, could she have been sent out by this searcher for the Garden of Eden, for the sole purpose of getting them to come back and make this effort against us, after they had become di:;;couraged and had departed? It's a wild throw of the guess lariat, probably." "I don't said the scout; "my head is fuddled, and I can't think clearly right now. But there is no longer any d o ubt that this Yankee was a pretender and a renegade in vlrith the talis; and. that for some reason the Talis want to capture us alive." "And if y o u hadn't" 15een wide awake and ight on the j o b t o -ni ght, I guess they d have done it." He wa s hed the wound, then tied a handkerc p ief over it a s a bandage. Buffalo Bill put on his Stetson, over the handker chief. "I'm all right again or I will be in a minute or so." "The tinh orn an' the ki-yis have hit the ghost trail," said Nomad; "go ne with out er sound! Slidin' shad ders would er made a busier noise than they did. Waal, what ne xt?" "Nothing, until morning," said the scout. ."I'm h oping n o w," remarked Pawnee "that the Talis ha v e been given such a fright that they will keep out of our way, and we'll have a clear trail down to El Toro." "The thing that is beginning to worry me ," the scout admitted i s a fe!r that when we get to El Toro we shall find that all al ong we have been against a frameup." \ "N ecarnis, it looks it," declared Pawnee. "Take everything ; from the start until right now-the mes sages, Nita L o bo, the Yankee the sneaking Talis; -I'm thinking that when we do butt int o the ran c h at El Toro we'll ram into a surprise that will lay these lit tle incidents away in moth balls, and make us forget they ever happened." "Still feel in' weak, ain't ye, Buffier ?" said Nomad. "Like the !J10rniQg after the night before," the scout admitted. "But I'll be ready for the trail, when the times comes for it." CHAPTER IX. THE WORK OF THE ROPE KING. The trail that up to this time had been reasonably plain, though occasionally it scattered and took on the of a game trail, ended, a few miles be yond, in a valley that was bounded on every side but the north by precipitous and rocky hills_ When the;' had spent h o urs in a vain effort to find a way southward, they decided to leave their animals in the valley, in spite of the risk, and pack the medi cines and supplies on their backs. The bridles, saddles, and all the other things they could not take, or did not need, they cached. Pawnee Bill's unequaled ability with the rope came in handy now. They had ropes in plenty, and at times had need of them all, for there were places in the tortuous canons, when rope bridges, in effect, had to be constructed.


\ 18 THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. ' lt was interesting to watch Pawn.ee Bill at this kind of work 1 Selecting a finger of rock oh the other side of the cafion, he would throw a noose over it and tighten it with a jerk, then fasten the free end on his side. After that he would rig a sort of arrange ment by which the medicine cases and supplies could be "ferried" across; this, of course, after he had cr o ssed over himse1f which he did by ''walking" the main rope with his hands. Buffalo Bill and the borderman came after that. Now and then the precipice path they followed w s>Uld end at a blank wall of rock, so that .they had their choice of climbing over it, or turning back. There was seldom hesitation on Pawnee's part. After estimating the height of the wall, he picked out some point on it that projected more or less, and landed a noose over it, then climbed the rope like an ac robat or a sail o r. Buffalo Bill could climb with equal skill, but to save the strength of the borderman who was, becau s e of his increasing years, not as "soo_ple" as once up o n a time, Pawnee often made a rope ladder, and let it d o wn for him : From the top of the wall a rope be slid down, and they would by that. Once only did Pawnee lose a rope that he had to leave hanging on the wall; the others he was able to snap off the high projections by running little wave rip ples up the rope, which, gaining in force, ' hopped" the noose off. The ingenious manner in which he conquered rock and rope difficulties that day proved his worthiness to be called the king of the rope.' Half the day was spent in work of this kind, when an unexpected capture was made of a Tali Indian. A rope had been thrown across a cafion; some of the packs had be' en sent over and Buffalo Bill, with No mad, had crossed; this time leaving Pawnee on the starting side of the canon. Pawnee began tcf cross when Buffalo Bill and No mad had g one on a few yards to in s pect the way. Pawmee was swinging along with his hands, halfway a c ross, when he was startled by seeing a Tali Indian suddenly at the opposite end of the rope, and s ..... o p to cut it with his knife. T hus caught on the rope that bridged the canon, Pawnee Bill s famous Price knife came out of his belt and flashed at the weapon of the red rope cutter. It s truck the knife hand of the Tali. At the same moment Buffalo Bill, who had turned back, came dashing on the redskin, and before the lat ter could wriggle away the scout had nailed him. P ::nv nee swung on ; whooping his delight, and landed. fa.ff alo Bill had thrown tl;ie redskin backward, and was ::atnped on him. Seeing that the odds were against him, the Tali ceased to struggle, submitting, when he had to, with Indian stoicism. Nomad c a m e runnin :; o n the scene dr:iwn b y P awnee s war whoop s "Gr-reat catypillar s he screeched. "Whar' d ye fihd ther speciment ? "He was cutting the rope," said Pawnee. The Tali crouched against a rock, when the scout re l ased him, and looked at his stashed hand, from which blood dropped "I let him off ea s y said Pawnee, gathering up his knife; "the wax he was trying to serve me, 'twould have served him right if I had given him the weapon straight." He repres sed a shudder as he glanced into the canon, and thought o f the rocks which would have impaled him if the rope had been cut away by the Tali. "Search him, N o mad ," said the scout; "then we'll see if he can understand us." The search brought up an odd assortment of worth less things stowed miscellaneousty and held in place by strings, together with a small sheet of paper, writover in Spani s h : 'He was a message bearer,'' said Pawnee, "crossing the mountains, and butted into this thing through pure meanness, because he thought he saw a chance to dish me. What does it say necarnis ?" Buffalo Bill gave this translation: "I refuse to go further in this matter of trying to carry out your plan against Buffalo Bill and his friends. I find that I am still a woman and cannot do it. For that reas o n I left their party. Finding this Tali in the trail, I am sending this message to you by his hand. As for me, you will not see me again. "NITA LOBO." "Yah !" snarled the trapper. "Blamed ef it don't soul}d like a letter from thet gal to old Adam! Aire we gittin' warm ter somethin', er no? Pawnee Bill blew out an expressive whistle of aston ishment. "Oh, snakes!" added the borderman. "I don't like ter think thet the han'some young 'oman what I took a likin' ter so well can be mixed up in a game ag'inst us with thet pizen Yankee. Cain't ye make some other meanin' out er thet letter, one o' ye?" Buffalo Bill turned to the Tali, who sat crouched against the rock, his staring black eyes filled with the fear he tried hard to conceal. "Where did you get this?" said the scout, holding up the letter. The Tali's stare continued. The scout repeated it in Spanish. Then he tried the few words of Tali that he knew and after that other Indian dialects. Only when the scout resorted to signs did a gleam of understanding cross the Tali s face. The Tali then made an s wering sign s to sh ow that the one who had gi v en him the lefter wa s a w oman: H e swung his hands rotmd indicating a skirt round his feet; made a curving motion with his right hand, fro m


THE BUFF ALO BILL STO'RIES. 19 his head down his back, indicating long hair; pointed tall critter 'mongst us recent, which his name was to his face, then to the scout's, to signify that the Adam, you'll recomember. Et bergins ter look as ef woman's face was white--she was not an Indian thet tinhorn ombray war erbout all ther mearr things woman; then clucked out Tali words, which the scout ye can think of. Still, I am holdin' back frum statin' said was a declaration that she was a daughter of Lobo; pasitive opinions, on account o' Miss Nita Lobo. Whyand she had sent him, he said as well as he could, with \ ever she wore a name sim'lar--" that message to Lobo. He coughed and stared. "Where is Lobo?" demanded the scout, by signs and "Say, Buffier-I don't want ter express et; but c'd words. et be posserble thet Nita Lobo war kin ter this Tall The Tali did not know; Lobo had been near re-Wo1f-mebbyso his darter? I don't want ter ex cently, but the Tali had been heading for Lobo's headpress et!" 1 quarters. Buffalo Bill bored for information along that line, He indicated the distance, by laying his heaM on his but without success; there were limits to the sign lanarm and closing his eyes, to indicate one sleep; then guage, as he and the Tali knew it: repeating it to denote another sleep. When they had pumped the redskin dry they held a "Two sleeps to the south," said the scout, when the council of war. Tali nodded the direction. After it ended, Pawnee Bill took his ropes and ex-"Jest erbout ther distance to El Toro, ef we has plored the onward way for a hour or so. figgered thet out right," observed Nomad. "The canons and precipices get worse and worse," he "The Talis had some horses-we saw signs of that reported, wh.$.!J..he returned. in the trail; what did they do with their horses?" They to back-track. queried the scout. When they reached the valley again the da,was The actions of the Tali, in trying to answer this, Clone. Nevertheless, they made the Tali show them the were interesting to watch. Three times the scout had hole which he had indicated. him repeat tnem. Straight ahead of him the Tali walked to the other "Oh' !" he said "I think he means that there is a end of the valley. There he stopped, studied the face hole out of tlfat valley where we were forced to leave of the clif(_ before him in the fading light, and walked our horses !" J on again. "You better ask him thet over erg' in," said the bor"Goin' ter butt his pead inter thh cliff," said N qmad. derman. "We don't want ter make no mistake. Ef I The Tali stqpped again, where thr.ee close-set, wide has ter climb back ter thet valley frum hyar, I wants $preading dwarf cedars spread along a cleft near the ther goods fer et when I git thar. Rastlin' ropes across wall; the floor of rock up to that point having been mebbyso is all right fer an expert like what bare granite, though in the cleft was enough soil to Pawnee is; but fer er man o' my y'ars an" in-deescrisupport the growth of the cedars. tion-waal, et is plum' diff'rent." Stepping behind the cedars the Tali disappeared for Buffalo Bil l asked the Tali again. a moment. "That's all I make out of it," said the scout, when When he reappeared he was beckoning. the Tali had again tied himself into bow knots, to deF 11 h b h d th d th th note a twisting trail, and almost swallowed his fingers th '0 1 1 e 111k ce ars ey saw, as ey to indicate horses going into a nole : oug 1 mere y e :oc . "The same over here," said Pawnee; "that's what he But wh('.\n struck a .small sect10n of 1t means. But we any hole leading out of the ground with his kn?ckles 1t swayed and they d1sthat valley." 1 covered pasted agamst the stone was a shee! made "You were going ahead," the scout contrived to say of had been dyed to the cplor of the rock,. to the Tali; "and you can guide us on in the way you and this buckskm sheet was a door. were going, so that by and by we shall :reach the place The Tali swung it aside, and before them was a where Lobo is." hole; not dark, as they ha d expected it to be, but with "I was going to the valley where hole is-not as much light seen through it, efn the other side, as south," said the Tali, in his sign language. "I could. where they stood. gtt to the Tall Wolf that way before I could" by cross-When they had passed !,.hrough this cleverlymade ing the terrible mountains." and hidden dqor, they found ithat the rock wall there It took him fifteen minutes to say this. And as a was but an inch or two thick-a mere sheet .of granite; study in sign language it was interesting. The Tall that it had been perforated by the Indians, and then Wolf, or Tall Lobo, he "spelled out" by making the this door had peen set in to conceal it. universal Indian sign for wolf, then lifting his hands Straight attead, dimly discernible, was' a plain trail high and higher until he was stretching them over his leading along the base of a high rock wall head. "Waugh!" Nomad exclaimed, in admiration of the "D' yer ketch on ter thet, Buffier ?" said Nomad. ingenuity of the Talis. "Et shore took a hair-trigger "This hyar Lobo is some tall, you'll notice, 'cordin' intellect ter put er job o' thet kind through. Jumpin' ter ther Tali. We has likew ise an' sim'lar had a verYc sandhills I'..ooks now as ef we ain't goin' ter have


20 THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. nothin' but clean and straightaway sailin' henceforth and ferevermore. Halleluyer !" So eager were they to take advantage of the way thus opened, tbat as soon as they had eaten supper they got up their animals and set forth along the trail. They were tired almost to the point of exhaus tion by the incessant work and climbing they had done; but the thought that they could now make decent speed stirred them to this final effort. At midnight they stopped, fagged out, and made their night camp in the trail. Nomad stood guard for the first two hours. But the old man could not keep his eyes open. Falling asleep, he slept like a log till morning; and as he, of course, failed to arouse the others, they slept irt the same dead manner, until the sunlight of the new day struck them and brought them back to conscious ness. Nomad's chagrin was then great. The Tali had made His escape. He had been afraid to take horses, guns, am unition, and including the medicine packs, liad not been touched; he had simply lifted his feet 1 and stolen away with the stealth of a fox. "Waugh!" Nomad bellowed. "Somebody rig er kickin' machine qttick1 an' git busy with me I" CHAPTER X. ENTER SCHNITZENHAUSER. There wa$ no grass in the trail here for the horses, and no water; the whole country had begun to take on even more of a desert look than any yet passed over, so the scout and his pards were anxious to push on. By '1ine o'clock they had reached much Jower levels, where they found a half7dried-up water hole, mud-oozy round the edges, but with grass about it. Beyond this the land stretched on in sandy levels that had a desert appearance. Viewing it with eyes, the and hi friends confessed that they did not it. Yet the trail they had been following: en tered this waste. A half mile out from the foot of the hills, when they prospected to !lee what lay there, they found a continuation of pony tracks; but they had grown fainter, and the sand had sifted in so that the most of them were covered. 1 "A mile out, there will be no trail," said the scout. Dancing sand spirals, set in motion by cross winds, waltzed in weird fashion stiU farther out, and no green tree nor shrub could be seen, but only cacti and desert weeds here and there, the weeds set in depressions, the cacti defying the worst that the heat and the sand could do. ''A bad outlook for the horses, necarnis," declared Pawnee. "Still, horses have passed througl.J\here, and what other horses can do ours can. We can fill our water bottles and make a try of it. I guess we've got to-nothing is to be gained by stopping here." But they did not start until the horses were well resttd and had filled themselves with the grass that grew luxuriantly round the water hole. They would have delayed even longer, but for an unforeseen occurrence. Nomad caught sight of a human head on top of a low hill behind him, and, though it was at once with drawn, he caught up his rifle apd sent a bullet at the rock where it had been for a moment only visible. The result of that shot was about the most aston ishing thing that had ever come within the ken of the old borderman's experience. A man came rolling down the slope of the hill like a ball. Apparently the shot, causing him to jump, had also made him slip, where the soil was but sliding sand; and, having lost his footholCI, he could not regain it, and so came rolling helplessly down. Though he was whirling like a top, they saw at once, by his clothing, that he was not an Indian. Suddenly Nomad yelped: "Spinnin' comets! Et's ther baron 1" So it was. Having rolled to the bottom of the hill, his momen tum being exhausted, he began to pull himself together, as the three men from the C;imp rushed to meet him. The baron had clung valiantly to his rifl'e. Now he leaped up and swung it round him; they said afterward that, as he did so, his eyes were shut. "Go 'way!" he yelled. "K vit idt Oof. you try to timmyhawk me I vill make sissage meadt oudt oof you. Standt pack pehint yoursellufs, you retskii'i--" "Whoa, Nebuchadnezzar!" Nomad bellowed at him. "Stop turnin' round so fast, an' look at yerself onc't." The baron stopped. "Yiminy !" he said, 1'Idt iss nit....:-idt iss Nomadt." i "You must be dizzy-headed by now, baron," Nomad observed dryly. "Whatever did ye think you. war do in', anyhow?" "Idt iss also-o Cody unt Bawnee !" gasped the baron, as if he could not oelieve his eyes: "Sure thing, Schnitz!" cried Pawnee, stepping for ward with outstretched hand. "And the sight of no one could be more welcome," added Buffalo Bill, also advancing. "Budt meppyso I am treaming sveet treams," the baron objected. "Aber I am not, idt iss der habbiness oof my Jifetimes." "You're all right, baron," said Pawnee, wringing the German's pudgy hand. "But I must say that your of entering camp was a bit spectacular." The baron shook hands gravely. "Now vare iss der Inchun ?" he said, when he had concluded all round. "Which one?" asked Buffalo Bill. 1'Little Cayuse? Seeing you here, makes me hope that he is somewhere near." "Yaw, he iss a nearness, but I tond't know vare the baron admitted. "Budt 1'. am sbeaking oof der Inchun vat haf sh9odt adt me."


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. "Waugh, baron," cried "I done thet leetle The baron stared at him. bar kin' myself." "Vot are you sbeakin' mit by your moudth ?" "You?" "Oh, snakes! Cain't ye ever git ter no p'int, ner "Didn't you rec'nize ther crack o' this ole rifle?" nuthin' ?" "You? Vhy vouldt you be shoodting at me?" "So far as I am knowing idt, said the baron, "dare "Waal, I thought you war .m Injun." iss been no smallbox unf no measles unt no shicken "Himmel I Dhen dare vos two Inchuns I" box unt no whoobin' cough unt--" He pulled himself together again and laughed. Waugh! What has ther been, then? Git down to "I smell der schmokes oof your cami_> fire," he exbrass tacks?" plained, "unt so I climb py der tob oof der hill yedt, "Dare has peen Inchuns." and try to look a leedle town here. Unt der nexdt t ing "Thet all?" vot is habbening, a pullet comes flying py der site oof "Aind't idt enough? Ve are coobed py der Inchuns my headt, and vhen I choomp oop, so dot der nexdt oop in der mine h o use by El Toro yedt. Ve cand t git vun he tond't git me, I slib my feedt. Unt-I am oudt, unt o _of ve couldt, ve couldt nodt

22.. THE BUFF ALO liULL STORIES. that the Piute and the German had encountered the Brices and Pierpont in the San Felipe foothills, where Pierpont's party had gone to inspect the San.,Felipe gold mine, and that then they had become guides for the party down to El Toro. On the way to El Toro the party had been attacked by Indians, who were apparently of the tribe that had worked as slaves in the gold mine, and they had driven the redskins off with difficulty. These Indians were led by a white man, and that fact had seemed to make them brave. ,r There had been a running fight, after that, until El Toro was reached; then the Indians had cooped them up in the mine building, and still surr.onded it. When matters became so desperate they could be en dured no longer, Little Cayuse and the baron had vol unteered to go through th e lines of the Indians and secure help. But

THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. 23 "Yaw, I pedt you. Vhen I seen him again he vill know me. Y edt I couldn't make oudt his face." "You has also seen ther white man thet led ther Talis when they attacked ye." "Nit. Ve ditn't seen him goot." "What I'm gittin' at is-did thet critter look like thet white man?" "Vot I seen oof dot white man idt vos in der darkness-yoost a liddle I seen him; unt he had no Inchun var baint, mit fedders." "Then, how did ye know thet he war er white man?" howled the borderman-. "Ther inacc'racy o' yer mis information is so plum'--" "By ; his woice," replied the baron placidly. "Unt lader he sent in a note by der El Toro mine, sayii'1g dot ve shouldt surrenter, or he vouldt shoodt all oof us. Dot note vos wridden by a vhite man in der Spanish lankwitch; budt idt iss signed by an Inchun name; it vos Dall Volf." "Tall Wolf. Thet don't explain nothin'." "Mep,yso idt oxblains dot der Dall Vol f iss der dall Yankee. Pooty soon ve are going to findt oudt." But they were not to know about that as soon as they anticipated or hoped for. With the quick passing of the miragy condition, the slumbering winds awoke and the dancing sand shapes began again their waltzing movements over the sandy plains. II1creasing minute by minute, the wind changed, until it was blowing a gale, that had an icy sting, as if some where hailstorms were in motion; the dust became blinding. "There were hills off on the right, necarnis," said Pawnee, shouting through the roar of the sudden storm; "we saw some there when the mirages were on. As we can't stand this we'd better tnove toward them, don't you think?" .As the wind was blowing toward the hills mentioned, that helped materially when they turned their backs on it and rode through the whirling dust clouds, seeking shelter. They bumped into the hills at the er:d of half an hour of brisk riding when they could hardly see, so thick the dust had grown. Feeling along them, they sought for some cranny into which they could burrow with their porses. After a time they found one that seemed to answer their need; it thrust a rocky shoulder toward the deser;t, and when they were behind that the wind was in a measure shut out, though the sand, taken high into the air, was rained down on them, and the dust was still suffocating. Having thrown handkerchiefs over their .faces, the riders were suffering less than the animals. "We can get farther back, neca;nis," said Pawnee, after a few minutes of exploqttion. They burrowed farther, and found a hole that seemed to be the mouth of a cavern of considerable size; their horses could enter it, and they were safe from the worst of the storm. Nomad set out with Little Cayuse to explore the cave, and came back soon. "Quar things back in thar, Buffler," he reported. "Whiskizoos ?" said Pawnee, "You see them, you know, whenever it gets dark." I Noticing Little Cayuse edging along as if he bad serious intentions of bolting from the cave, Pawnee Bill stopped him; then saw that the Piute was in a panic of fright. "What's the trouble back there, Cayuse?" Buffalo Bill demanded. The Piute backed against the wall, but did not an swer. "Buffler," Nomad explained, "we went back thar ex ploi:atin', ye know. Then we heerd Injuns talkin', we thought. After thet we seen eyes in ther dark. Now I has seen In jun eyes; yit never a one thet would shine in ther dark like the green eyes of a cat. And I has heerd In jun voices; yet them voices didn't come frum critters thet had eyes which would shine green in ther dark. It is thet wh'at has throwed ther skeer inter ther Piute." When the scout, Pawnee, and the baron accom panied Nomad and Little Cayuse to the point where the voices had been heard and the frery green eyes seen, nothing was discovered. "They has fled furder back inter ther cave," said Nomad. "Otherwise--" "Oddervise vot ?" demanded the baron. "Waal, I'm goin' ter let some er you wise guys say what; not fer me no more! You jest makes fun when I expresses opinions thet ain't like yer own. I has noticed thet et is a turn o' mind harbored by some men-ter stick ter their own notions, and make sport o' fellers that happens ter differ." 'With the possibility that Indians had taken refuge in the cavern from the fury of the storm, no one had a desire to push investigations; so they returned to the point where the horses remained.' An hour later, when the storm seemed lessening, a band of deer, or elk, heading for the desert, dashed upon them as they crouched in the darkness. "There is the explanation of your mystery, Nomad," said Pawnee, with a laugh, as he jumped to one side to let the animals struggle' by. But even as he said it, the charging creatures seemed to utter Indian yells, and a flight of arrows fell in the midst of the scout's party. In another moment the cavern was clear. "Er waugh !" Nomad was whooping. "Strike er match, somebody." Matches were struck. An arrow had gone through the borderman's coat, and another had cut into the baron's shoe leather. But no one had been hurt. "Cur'us-lookin' arrers,'j said omad, inspecting the


24 THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. one that had come so near perforating him. "Tali I She stared at it by the light of the torch as if dazed. guess. Fiery-eye d animiles shootin Tali arrers is gain' "You say you foond this on a Tali Indian you capsome." / tured ?" He was still commenting, when there came a quick They acquainted her with all the circumstances. rustle of footsteps, and in the darkness a form brushed "Again I refuse to explain," she said; but there were past him. \ tears in her eyes. It yvas as much an act of instinct as anything else Asked again about the Talis who had been in the 1 which caused the foot of the borderman to shoot out. cave, she repeated her declarations, bl1t added that she But it tumbled the form to the ground. thought none remained in the cave. "Fiery-eyed elk, er a er what; I l-ras got A search of the passages with the torch disclosed ye!" he dropping down. none. Then he yelled, in a scared tone: / When her determination to tell nothing could not "Waugh! This whatever-et-is animile is w'arin' er be broken down, the scout repeated his declarations dress. Strike a match, won't ye, somebody quick!" that they had for her only the kindest feelings, and Buffalo Bill flared a match, as Pawnee hastened to added that if now she desired to go on with them, they the borderman's assistarice. would aid her all ,th e y could. The flame fell on the white and frightened face of "I can see/' she said, "that you think I am trying Nita Lobo. to join some one in El Toro." Nomad tumbled backward as if he had seen a ghost, But she remained' in the cavern through the night, and for the moment no doubt that was what he while the sand storm raved ol1t its strength, and was thought. grateful for the food they gave her. She was losing But Pawnee Bill's hand had clutched her garments. her beauty-bet face had her eyes were Still, it was needless, as she made no struggle. brighter, and it was clear that she had experienced "Bring up that torch we have been saving, Pfiwnee," mental suffering as well as physical. the scout requested, as the match burned toward ex,.,. She went on them the next day, riding her tinction.1 own horse, which had been in the cave with her. It a kerosene torch saved f9r emergencies. The sand storm had wiped out the desert trail. But Pawnee got it out of his saddle pack Mid lighted it. the unerring instinct of Little Cayuse for direction en-The girl was by this time recovering her wits. abled him to guide the party. 'I "If you will release me," she said, in a voice that The El Toro hills were entered, when the animals trembled, "I'll go on now." wer e at the point of exhaustion, -that afternoon: Nomad, panting heavily, goggled at her. Here was water and grass, with wo o d for fires; and "Whyever--" in the hills game abounded. Here, too, were the trou-Words failed him blesome Talis. "Really I'd like to go on now," she said. Beyond the hills, on the southern slope, was the El But they thought the sand storm outside was no place Toro copper mine which the scout and his pards were for her. Above all, they wanted enlightenment. So it}so anxi o u s to reach. But they could not go on until stead of letting her go on they plied her with questheir horses were somewhat rested. tions. The girl showed unusual restlessness when the camp "Those animals were elk," she said, "with Indians was pitched in the El Toro foothills. on their backs-Tali Indians; there is a tribe of Talis Finally she began to talk w ith old Nomad. s o uth of here, and some of the warriors have trained a few elk and use them for riding, jus as you do "You have beei;i in this part of the country before?" hoi-ses. The Talis came in here to escape the sand she asked. storm. I was in here for the same purpose. "Ro und an' erbout et," he said; "I ain't never been "The source of my information I refuse to explain," right through this belt." she continued, when questioned further. "It isn't ma"There is1 a trail, I believe," she said, "leading from terial that you should know it. Of course I'm aware the El Toro copper mine down to the coast?" th;it you have all sorts of wild opinion1> apout me, since "I'm told thar is; I ain't never seen et." I left your party without stop1)ing to explain why I She had him describe it to her, as it had been dedid it. I don't care to explain." scribed to him, and to indicate where it probably They informed her of the view given by the mirage. the hills. / That astonished her, and flushed her face. For a Nomad answered / everything cheerfully and willmoment it seemed that she was about to make some ingly. Though Nita Lobo puzzled him, and excited his sweeping disclosures, but after hesitating she again redistrust, yet he liked her. She had courage of a high fused to explain. r order, and was able to rough it in a manner to capBuffalo Bill played what he hoped would be a trump, tivate him. when he brought ofut the letter she had written and sent The morning after, when the horses were made off by a Tali messenger. ceady for the march, and old Nomad gallantlY.


THE BUFF ALO BILL STORIES. assisted her to qer saddle, Nita 1.obo reached down her hand. Good-by, Mr. Nomad," she said; "you have been awfully kind to me, when you had no reason to be. and I'm not going to forget it. The others have bee,p kind, too, but I seem to know you better, because we were together longer." "Whyever aire ye sayin' good-by at this time?" he asked. "Fer yer pleasant words I'm thankin' ye, as any one would; but--" "I'm saying go od-by because I d on't expect to see you again. I'm going to leave the party here and take that trail to the coast you were so good as to tell me all about last evening. Don't ask me why, for I can't tell you. But I do not want to go any farther." The bordhman flushed and stared. "On thet trail," he objected, "thar may be Injuns, and men what aire mebbyso wuss; so o' course this hyar. notion is jest too foolish." When she refuS'ed to change her mind he called out to Buffalo Bill that Miss Lobo was talking of desert ing "Good-by!" she said, as Buffalo Bill came toward her. 1 She seemed t o tf ear that he might by force prevent her from carrying out her intention; so insteacl' of greeting him at closer quart_!!rs, she pulled her horse round and cantered away : 'Good-by, everybody! she called, and kissed the tips of her fingers to them CHAPTER XII. AT EL TORO. \ I They did not follow her. Their horses were not in good condition,. was one reason ; another was they did not care to force her to accompany them. The chief reason, however, was the need of hurrying on to the of their friends cooped up by Talis in the mine building. They succeeded in crossing the rough hill trail that d.ay. As they descen ded in the late afternoon, they saw the mine building still stood intact; tJut whether it was occupied and Talis lay in stealth round it, they could not then When they got down to the vicinity of the mine night had come, and evidel)ce <;>f the presence of Talis be gan to accumulate. Signal smoke ha<4 been seen, and with the coming of darkness a signal fife blazed on one hill, and was answered by a winking fire on another. Stumbling on in darkness, they ran into a Tali guard. He was armed with a musket, which he shot off as he turned and fled. Tali yells followed in sufficient volume to show that a strong force of Tali braves was encamped between them and the house at the mine. The horses were retired, jn charge of the baron, who grumbled mightily because this seemed to put him out of it. While the other members oithe party waited in the trail, Little Cayuse was sent forward to investigate He came back shortly with a report. "Heap many Talis out front," he said; "make um powwow." He could not understand what they were saying, but the guard on falling back had apparently reported the approach of enemies, apd the Tc..lis were getting ready "White man chief," he reported, and this, coming last, was the most interesting of all. "Did you get a look at that white man?" the scout fAi." 'Describe him. I suppose there is a camp fire, or lodge fire." "Small fire," said the Piute; "white man stoop by fire and tall. "Waugh !" snarled Nomad; "mebbyso ther Yankee. How war this critter dressed as to clo'es ?" !"'" "TaF war paint and plumes," said Little Cayuse. "Deescriptiv ernough, yit it'-don't put us on. But thet Yankee would look plum' funnier'n a circus clown, rig him out thet way. Ye heard him talkin', is ther way ye knowed he war white, instead of Injun, then mebby from his voice you could tell who he war?" "All same white man that lead Talis "You mean ther time when you and ther baron broke through and come huntin' fer us? This is ther critter who war in charge then?" "Ai." 'I vote, necarnis, that we push on as far as possible, and then be ready to jump through, and get to the house, or make a fight, just as seems then advisable," said Pawnee Bill. "But if we do that we'll have to bring up the baron and abandon the animals; we can't leave Schnitz to run the risk of being killed out here. "Guide us first, Cayuse, to the place where you saw and heard tJ-iose things," the scout ordered; "then we can, perhaps, tell what is best for us to do." But while they had been listening to the Pit.he s re port, and discussing plans, the white man who led the Talis had been moving with them. He had scouts out. after the frightened trail guard came in, and they had cleverly located the talking white men. Sb that, when the scout's small force advanced, they were suddenly attacked. A flight of arro ws went over their heads; then the darkpess rained Indians down on them-Indians who came screeching l'ike demons. The only thing that saved the scout and his friends was that when, following the ineffective arrow flight, the Indians yushed, they found no one in the trail; the four men who had. been there had slipped to one side, where they lay fl.at, and the darkness hid them The Indians, suspecting something of the kind, drew


26 .. THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. a close cordon of warriors to the right and left, and began to beat through the undergrowth, moving back in the direction of the min,e. "Buffier, this hyar ain't goin' accordin' ter ther way we stacked ther kyards," Nomad grumbled; "we're bein' driv' toward ther mine, and aire leavin' ther baron. Desartin' of a pard ain't never in my calc'la tions." The Indians seen:ied t hear even his husky grumble, and arrows came threshing round him. "Choke down your objections the moment," said the scout; "we've got to make a crawl pronto, if we don't want the Talis to get our hair." "Pronto it is," said Pawnee, crawling at the heels of the scout. "This seems to be taking us straight to the El Toro mine, and I have a vivid recollection that is where we have longed to be." "But riot without Schnitz.!" Nomad objected. "Oh, snakes! Thar's more arrers. One scratched my arm then; hope the dratted thing ain't pizen." The movement of the concealed Talis was like that of game beaters trying to flush pheasants; they struck the bushes, even kicked into them,. holding their arrows on the bowstrings ready for a shot if a form scudded into sight. Steadily the three white men and the Piute were driven in toward the mine, until they began to think a trap lay there, and they were being crowded i?to it. "These Talis have shore got more fightin' teeth than any w.e has seen yit," said Nomad; "hyartofore I ain't been thinkin' much of Talis when et come ter fightin'. Ef these aire like ther ones we seen workin' in thet San Felipe gold mine, they wouldn't have so much clear sand as they're now showin'." "They are under a white man; that's to be borne in mind." Off on the right, but still in the general direction of the mine, Indian drums began to boom; then In dian voices were heard, as if drum beaters and singers desired to cheer on the warriors Who were trying to capture the daring white men: "'Phe Talis are men! Listen! The Talis are the \ thunder and the lightning that strikes l The Talis are men!" Behind the stealthily moving white men and the Piute it was clear that in numbers the Talis were thick ening; and now from more than a score of Indian throats war whoops burst, answering the song that had reached them. Pawnee Bill was struck by an arrow, that made a flesh wound in his arm; Nomad received another arrow -but it did no greater damage than the first; and 'Little Cayuse cried out, when a feathered shaft whistled through his hair. "We has got trr make a stand, Buffler, and give 'em ther cold lead," Nomad whispered; "we'll be as full o' arrers as pincushions 'a.ire o' pins purty soon, other wise. And I dunno--" His words, and the Talis war whoops, were broken into by a ringing cheer. It was sent by white men, and came from the front. Buffalo Bill sprang to his feet. "We'll unite with them," he said; "then make a finish fight of it, if we have to." A mad dash through the darkness of thirty or forty yards followed. As they ran they yelled out to the white men to keep from being shot down by them. And from the rear /came more war whoops, and flights of arrows, with the crashing of a few muskets. "Who comes?" was called. "Cody arld comp'ny!" yelled back. "Right this way; we hoped so!" A gate stood open, in a high wall. In it, Ciimly out lined, were two men and a woman. "Cody and company are certainly welcome," sounded in the fam'liar voice of Har,vey Brice. "Hustle through." His revolver arm swung upward, and he fired back as they passed inside, he closed the gate with a swinging bang; and dropped a bolt. in place. Futilely, a shower of arrows rained against the gate. "Ther baron!" said Nomad. "He's out thar Buf:fler, I'm s lidin' ter ther help o' ther baron; open the gate thar, Brite." Brice refused to open the gate. "It's a miracle that you got through yourselves," he said; "and if you go back thete you'll lose your life, Nomad; so I can't let you. I suppose you know who is in command of those redskins? It's Ramon Corral." Jhe name held a world of meaning. He was the brainy and notorious outlaw for whom the Mexican government had offered rewatds in vain. Buffalo Bill had captured him near the San Felipe mine, hut had not been able to hold him. "He has tried to burn us out, star. ve us out, and in


THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. I every wa y has tried to destroy us," Brice, "since we ha v e been in here; and his redskins-these Talis -coopt!d us up here on the very day of arrival; after I they had failed to induce us by "reachery to sur render. "And it is because we are friends of Buffalo Bill. He has sworn to have the life of every friend of his; artd the scout himself, and those close to him, he has sworn to capture, and give to the Talis .for It's an excellent program, from his standpoint. I'm sorry for the baron, Brice added; "but really, No mad, there is no sense in your trying to go to his aid, and getting yourself killed." Though this was an argument that satisfied Brice, it did not satisfy Buffalo Bill and his friends. The baron had gone back under orders. He was in dan ger because he had obeyed. And, apparently, he had been abandoned. Hence, agreeing with Nomad in their determination to aicr the baron, they began to talk of a plan. Harvey Brice and his wife, with her father, Ralph Pierpont, had so far stood the Tali siege well. Though they had believed that the Piute and. the baron would get through, and that Buffalo Bill would bring a rescue party, they were p.stonished that the party had arrived so soon. 1 A:brief explanation cleared this up for them. While they were still talking, a conf tised sound of fighting arose outside the gate. Then the voice of the baron was flung tip there in a wild bellow : "Hellup Hellup !" OHNPTER XIII. \ THE CAPTURE OF RAMON CORRAL. y Brice lifted the bolt of the door, and flung the door open. Two figures were struggling on the ground. One was the baron; that eould be told by his heavy voice; the other was, apparently, an Indian. Buffalo Bill flung himself on the man with whom the baron fought, and snaked him through the open gate. Brice closed the gate, and droppe

28 THE BUFFALO BILL STORIES. "Water is a precious article here," said Brice; "so go slow with that." But Nomad had already followed up his movement by scrubbing the face the painted man. "Ramon Corral !" cried the scout. Pawnee had been busy with the rope; now he pu shed Corral against the wall, and told him to sit up. "You're Ramon Corral," said the scout. "An' a sight ye be," said Nomad; "wi' yer face : half covered yit with paint, and that yard o' eagle feathers in yer war bonnet; you're some of a Tali, I / take et." The dark face of Ramon Corral; shining with water, was wrinkled in a scowl of fear. I "It doesn't matter whether you say you are Corral, or deny it," said Pawnee Bill; "remember that we have had a meeting before this, and we haven't for. gotten how you look." "You don't want to talk?" said Pierpont, $eeing that Corral was likely to be stubborn. "Well, if you'll call off your Indians out there1 perhaps we can come to some arrangement." "The only arrangement that I can consent to;" de clared the scout, "can't include the release of this murscoundrel." "You can't scare me!" said Corral; though his dark, half-painted face showed yellowish now under the light. He upheld tf\is declaration by stubbornly refusing _to answer their questions. He would explain nothing. Nomad, having turned from Corral, when the iatter refused to talk, was exploring along the gate and the wall, when he thought he saw the earth moving be-" neath the wall, by the gate. It resulted in the discovery that a hole had been mined there, on the outside, and that Indians were working in it. This suggested an explanation of why Corral had been so close to the gate when the baron came along and ran into him. Revolver bullets fired into the moving stopped the work of the burrowing redskins; and a watch was set there, to see that they did not return to it. 1 Twice during the night the Talis charged the gate, exhibiting a courage that was astonishing, m view of the fact that a nul1Jber of them had not so long been spiritless toilers in the San Felipe mine. But with the coming of daylight they desisted from their furious efforts to capture the inclosed building. I Shortly after sunrise, however, they came into view again. 1 Once more they were yelling, and once more arrows whistled in the air. Nomad was guarcjing the and he flung it wide open; for in front of the Indians scampered the young woman-Nita Lobo. "Right inside," he shouted to her, "and et don't cost ye nothin' !", She dashed through and he closed and bolted the gate. Arrows pattered on it; then all was still, and the Talis had again apparently vanished. "I couldn't find that trail Mr. Nomad told me about," she explained; "so I couldn't do anything but come here. He told me the location of this house, and I knew you would reach it. As I came up to it, I thought no Indians were here, but when one of them jumped out of the bushes and caught my horse, I saw others; then I leaped down and ran for the gate." The sharp running and the excitement had made her nearly breathless. They gathered round her, congratulating her, asking questions, too, as well as praising her courage. Mrs. Harvey Brice drew her into the house: Womanly sympathy and confidence could do no more than hid been done before, however, in winning from Nita Lobo any statement that might clear up the mystery that had surrounded her. CHAPTER XIV. CONCLUSION. \ The Talis having appar ently disappeared in the morning, Buffalo Bill and Pawnee passed out at the gate, for the purpose of looking for the horses. It was thought barely possible the animals had not been located and taken off by the Indians. It was a vain hope. The horses were gone. They were returning, rather dispirited by this, for they valued the animals highly, when they beheld the feathered head of an Indian, between themselves and the gate. "One of the ki-yis is still lingering," said the scout. Another head became visible, beside that of the Indian. "Deserted Jericho!" Pawnee whispered. "There is our Yankee with him!" The heads disappeared.


THE BUFFALO BILL' STORIES. "They are moving toward the gate,'' said Buffalo Bill. "Can't we them in?" "I'm game to try it. I want to set my fingers on the neck of that rascally Wankee." They crept on cautiously, yet so rapidly they came up behid the white mar. and the Talis in a little while. Two ropes whisked out. Never were men morf7 amazed than the Yankee and the Indian when the nooses dropped over their heads and the jerking of the ropes threw them ciown. Before they could rise, Pawnee and Buffalo Bill were upon them, and they lay helpless under the muzzles of threatening revolvers. "Waal, it's yeou !" sputtered the Yankee, when he saw the scouts. He sat up and began to loosen the noose round his throat. The scared Tali lay on the ground. S9mething white was in his hand. "Better drop that little eccentricity of speech," said Buffalo Bill to the Yankee. "It don't go now." "I snum, yeou're inclined to be pesky," the Yan kee snarled. "But jest a word can explain what I was doin' ." "You were sneaking on the gate with this Tali for some underhanded purpose,'' said the scout. "There yeou' re wrong!" the Yankee protested. "I can prove it, if yeou will jest look at the white flag he is holdin' ." They saw that the Tali clut.ched a strip of white bt.lckskin. "It was' a flag of truce I was convoyin' to ye," said the Yankee. "I fell in with the 'Talis a while back. They know that yeou've got their leader, Ramon Corral; they call him the Tall Wolf. So they was willin' tew send in a flag of truce. And yeou have violated that flag of truce right naow by jumpin' on us as we was it!" "I think we'll take you and this Tali jnside and let you do your talking in there," said the scout. "That's a clear violation of a flag o' truce!''. protested the Yankee. "Y eou ain't g;ot no right tew do a thing like that to men who come to ye under a flag of truce. "Then you also was a bearer of this flag of truce?" "I was conv:oyin' this Indian; that's all. I am ac quainted with ye; and I thought I could do it, and git inside with ye, in that way; and yeo could send back yer answer then by Inj un; what he wants is to sur render the h1orses, if yeou will surrender Corral." do you happen to know so much? 'can you speak their language?" "I met one that could talk English 'most as good as I can." In spite of his protests they took him and the Indian through the gate and into the house. Even after that the Yankee puzzled them. He began to talk once more of the Garden of Eden and of his plans for finding it. He said this house could not be the Garden, for it was not a house. When his rambling became incoherent they stopped trying to get anything out of him, and turned to the Tali. Fortunately, the Talis had chosen for their mes 'a warrior who was somewhat familiar with Spanish; so that the scout and his friends had no trouble in talking with him. He had been sent to confer, under the white flag, for the return of, Roman Corral. The Tatis prom ised the release of Corral an abqndonment of their campaign the white men. The Tali also declared that the man who called him self Adam was a very great friend of the Talis. "You hear that!" said the scout to the Yankee. "Everybody is my friend," he said; "that is, when they know me." "If this man is a friend of the Tatis, I will do this," said the scout to the messenger; "we will let you go, and you can say this to your friends outside: We will release this man for the return of our animals. But that is all we will do." Nomad grumbled; but the thought of getting Hicle rack again reconciled him. "Thet feller is er skunk, and I don't like ter see him git erway until we has at least found out who and what he is,'' he declared. The Tali me!senger departed with the word sent by the scout. \ He was gone an hour. During that time distant drum beating was heard. which seemed to indicate that the Talis had blled a council, to consider the proposition. When the Tali returned he not only carried the white flag, but he had the horses, strung together by hacka mores roped to a lariat. The Yankee became suddenly interested. "I'm willin' tew go," he said, "sense you are provin' so unfriendly. But I tell yeou now that I'm a friend


' \ THE BUFF Ar.O BILL STORIES. 0f the Talis simply ber,ause I'm a friend of all men. Y eou see, being that I am Adam, all men are my( descendant s even Injuns; and I have got to conduct myself accordin' ." "You might as well drop that!" said the scout.. "Adam, that's right; we're on!" Pawnee a

THE BUFFALO BILL .STORIES 3 1 you. Father thinks he is a clever man, and he was trying to help father; but I think he is a bungler. But I am glad you let him go. He is one of father's friends-an American, who had to leave the States some years ago, and has been down in this country much o'f the time since. I have heard that he was called Kansas Charley. So, good-by, Mr. Nomadgood, kind Mr. Nomad, and say good-by to the others for me. I feel sure that I shall never see you again. "NITA CORRAL. The old borderman was stupefied with astonishment, before the scout had finished reading this letter. "Drugged!" he -said. "Thet han'some gal drugged me And she is ther darter--" But he recovered quickly. "No marter," he said, when all were "thet young 'oman ain't half as much ter blame as et looks; ye've got to recklect w:hat kind o' blood she has got, and her ejication, and all. And you've got ter recklect thet when et come right down to obeyin' Corrcil, she didn't do et; she flunked, and showed thet she had a good heart, 'in spite of who her dad is." The letter and the escape of the girl and Cor r al were sources of amazement to every one. "Kansas Gharley," said the scout; "you know who he is, Pawnee?" "The man who robbed the U. P. express car at White Springs, five yeans ago, and killed the messen ger. There was a big reward out for him." "He was no Yankee, though," said the scout; "Kan sas Charley was a #Western road agent and confidence man. Why, you remember, Pawnee, the time he went into the faro bank at Golden? "I guess yes; every man in the West at that time will recollect that." "And down in Dodge; there he fleeced old Monk ton, the cattle king, out o f the r oll that he had brought back from Kansas City for the sale of h i s cattle "Ho w m oo ch," s aid tl;ie baron, iss der revard dot iss offered fo r dhi s K an s a s Sharley?" "About twenty thousand dollars, isn t it, c ody ?" said the scout. "Vale, vhen you go back by der vay you tidn't come -vhich iss down by der coast-I am going to sday by dhe s e hill s in and collect dot revard But the baro n changed his mind before the time fo r departure came round. H o w Nita C o rral induced her bandit father to give hi s attempt against th e s c o uts wa s n o t known. Nom a d sugge s ted that s he drugged him, as 'she had s h own her ability in that line and the Indians carried Corral off while he was drugged. It seemed imp r obable; but w h e r e one gues s w as a s g oo d as an othe r th a t w ent as we ll a s th e n e xt. Anyway, the T al is vanished; they we r e n ot s e e n round -the mine after t h e n ig h t of the es ape of Ramon Corral. I. The Yankee had v ani s hed, t o o al on g w ith the Talis Buffalo Bill had, however, a c comp l ished h is missio n ; which was to rescue the party cooped up at E l Tero. It is true, the condition of affairs there was not as it had been pictured in the messages which had starteJ him and his friends off on that wild mountain trail; still it was serious, a nd if he had not arrived it would have been a fatal cond itior;i for those ringed in t her e by the Talis I The mountain trai l by which the scout and his pa r ds had c ome to El Toro was entirely too roug h for a r e turn over it, when a n other way was open from the mine clown to the coast of the gulf There they found a vessel and that took them up to the head of th e gulf, wher e they found transporta tion ba c k into the la n d of white_ men and civilizati on. 1 Pierpont con clu ded that after all he did not c a r e to b u y eit h e r a gold mi n e or a copper mine in regions so r emote and s o d a n ger fille d ; i n w hich co n clusion he was w i se. THE END. "Buffalo Bill and the Knife Wizard; or, Pawnee Bill's Great Exhibition," is the title of the th rilling story which will appear in the next .issue. In this will be described a series of r emark;ib l e adventu res throug h which the famous scout and his friends passed i n Me x ico It is a s t ory which will make the heart of a reader beat quickly as he sees snare after snare spr ead for popular heroes of the frontier in the course of ;hei r efforts to round up a band of desperate out l aws and their Tali Indian allies. It is No. 539, a nd w ill be out on Septemb er 9th. RlderD . cl e Write/or special offer. P"lnHt Cuuanteed $IQ fo $27 a n d Puncture P r oo f tires. 1e10&1e1111o.ie.710 ta ellof-tmk 'P 100 llecond nd .,_,. All make end model .. I $8 aoodsnew .. ..... . . . . 9, 0 Grea t ll'AOTOBY OLEABING SALB llhlp -APIWOfllll_,_, c en t tiqodt, i/U fr!J["',_ and allo 10 DAY FREe RIAL. Jialf DO NOT BUY u nti l y ou K'et o u r Wil:II> v'i1ctB t'O:'' :a-aaa, (lmc.a.oo


\ ..-LATEST ISSUES-.. TIP TOP WEEKLY The mo st p_opular p u bli c ation for b oys. The adventures of Frat11k and Dick Mtrriw ell can be had only in this weekly. High art colored covers. Thirty-two pages. Price, 5 cents. I 77g-Frank Merriwell's Insi ght; or, Th e Brand Blotter o f the. 792-Dick Merriwell, Navigator; or, The Adventure on the X BarS Sound. 78o-Frank Merriwell's Guile; or, The Queen of the Matadors. 793-Dick Merriwell's F:ellowship; or, The Man with the Wrong 781-Frank Merriwell's Campaign; or, Fighting the System. Idea. 782-Frank Merriwell in the National Forest; or, Outwitting the 794-Dick Merriwell s Fun; or, Buckhart as a Reformer. Timber Thieves. _. 795-Dick Merriwell s Commencement; or, The Last Week at 783-Frank Merriwl'!ll's Tenacity; or, The Mystery of the Famous Yale . Scientist 79(5-Dick Merri well at Montauk Point; or, The Terror of the 784Dick Merriwell's Self-Sacrifice; or, The Man Who Could Air. Jump. / 797--'-Dlck Merriwell, Mediator ; or, The Strike at t&e Plum 785-Dick Merriwell's Close Shave; or, The Man With a Grouch. Valley Mine. 786-Dick Merrfwell's Perception; or, The Brains of the Varsity 798-Dick Merriwell's Decision; or, The Sacrifice of a Principle 787-Dick Merriwell's Mysteriobs Disappearance; or, The Game 79g-Dick Merri well on the Great Lakes; or, The Smugglers of ip the Balance. the Inland Seas 788-DicK: Me r riwell's D"etecl"ive Work; or, The Case of the 8oo-Dick. Merriwell Caught Napping ; or, The R u be that Could Varsi ty Shortstop. Pitch 78g-Dick Merriwell's Proof; or, The Problem of the Stubborn 8o1-Dick Merriwell in the Copper Country; or, The Search for Crew Man. / a Lost Mine. 790-Dick Me r riwell's Brain Work;r or, The Frustration of the 8o2-Dick Merriwell Strapped; or, The Adventure of the Es-Sneaky Tutor. caped Gsnvicts. 791-Di ck Merriwell's Queer Case; or, The Lure of lhe Ruby. 8o3"'7Dick Merriwell's Coolness; or, At the Neva?a Gold .Fields. NICK CARTER WEEKLY 'rhe 'best d ete c tive stories on earth. N i c k C arter's e:llploit s are read the world o ver High art colored covers. Thirty-two big pages f rice, 5 cents. 738-A Plo t Within a Plot; or, Nick 1Carter Foils a Master Rogue 73g-T he Dead Accomplice; or, Nick1 Carter4Finds an Unusual C lew. 740--A Mysterious Robber; or, Nick Carter's Counterplot. 741-The Green Scarab; or, Nick Carter's Beautiful Mystery. 742-The Strangest Case on Record ; or, Nick Carter's Guessing Contest. 743.-A Shot in the Dark; or, Nick Carter's Midpigl\t Adventure. 744-The Seven Schemers; or, Nick Carter Foils a Splendid Plot 745-The Hidden Crime; or, Nick Carter's Telephone Clew. 746-The Secret Entrance; or, Nick Carter and the Child Stealers. 747-The Cavern Mystery; or, Nick C arte r 's Puzz le of the Leather Bag 748-The Disappearing Fortune; or, Nick Carter's Fish Line Clew. 74g-A Voice from the Past; or, Nick Carter's Phonograph Trap. 750--The Search for Xonia; or, Nick Carter's International Case. 751-The Crime of a'Century; or, Nick-Carter and the Chief of 752-The Spider's W eb; or, Nick Carter's Coney Island Case. 753-The Man Wit_!r a Crutch; or, Nick Carter on the Trail of Dickie Duc1e. 754-The Rajah 's Regalia; or, Nick Carter and the Fallon Twins. 755-Saved from Death; or, Nick Carter's Service. 756-The Man Inside; or, Nick Carter's Final Move. 757-0ut for Vengeance; or, Nick Carter and the Mystic Message. 758-The Poisons of Exili; or, Nick Ca1'er on Death's Trail. 75g-The Antique Vial; or, Nick Carter's Curious Mystery 76o-The House of Slumber; or, Nick Carter's Work of a Day. 76r-A Double Identity; or, Nick Carter and the Inspector. 762-"The Mocker's" Stratagem; or, Nick Carter's Smartest Ad-versary. 763-The Man that Came Back; or, Nick Carter's Finish Fight. 764-The Tracks in the Snow; or, Nick Carter's Strange' Clew 765-The Babbington Case; or, Nick Carter's Puzzling Question. 766-Masters of Millions; or, Nick Carter's Prophetic Statement. 767-The Blue Stain; or, Nick Ca r ter's Misleading Clews. For ale by all newdealer, or will be ent to any addre u on receipt ol price, S cents per copy,..,in money or postage tamp, b;y STREET & .SMITH, Publishers, 78-89 Seventh Avenue, New York 'F YOU WANT ANY BACK NUMBERS of our Weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer, the y can b e ,. obtained from this offJ.Ce direct. Fill out the following Order Blank and send it t o 1lS with the pri c e o the Weeklies you want and w e will send them to you by return mail. POSTAGE STAMPS TAKEN THE SAME AS MONEY. J STREET & SMITH, 79-89 Seoenth Aoenue, New York City. .. ,; ....... . ... ..... 191 Dear Sirs: Enclosed please f ind ,, .eents for whic h send me: TIP TOP WEEKLY, NICK CARTER WEEKLY, BUFF ALO BILL STORIFS, Nos ........... . . ........... .... 1 ;4 ... .. Name Street .... .. C ity State ....


BUFFALO BILL STORIES ISSUED EVERY TUESJ;>AY BEAUTIFUL COLORED COVERS There is no ne e d of our telling American read e rs how interesting the stories of the adventures of Buffalo Bill, as f:cout and plainsman, re ally are. These stories have been read exclusively in this weekly for many yea rs, and are voted to be masterpieces dealing with Western adventure. Buffalo Bill is more popuiar to-day than he e ve r was, and, consequ en tl y, everybody ought to know all there is to know about him. In no manner can you become so thoroughl y acquainted with the actual habits and life of this great man, as by r eading the BUFFALO BILL STORIES. We give herewith a list of all of the back numbers in p rint. You can have your news-dealer order them or they will be sent direct by the publishers to any address upon receipt of the price in money or 202-Buffalo Bill's Medicine-l odge . ... . 5 390-Buffalo Bill and the Ye l plni: Crew. . 5 4M-Buffalo Bill's Apache C lu e ......... 5 293-Buffalo Bill In Peril. .............. 5 391-Buffalo Bill's Guiding Hand ........ 5 466-Buffnl o Bill and the Apache Totem .. 5 298-Buffalo Blll's Black Eagles .......... 5 392-Buffal o Bill's Q ueer Quest. .... ..... 5 467 --Buffal o Bill's Golden Wonder ....... 5 299-Buff a l o Blll's Desperate Dozen ....... 5 393-Buff a lo Blll's Prize "Get-away" ..... 5 4G8-Buffal o B!U"s l'lesta Night. ........ 5 305-Buffal o Bill and the Barge Bandits .. 5 394-Buffalo Bill's Hurricane Hustle ..... 5 469-Buffal o Bill and t h e Hatchet Boys .. 5 306-Buffal o Bill, the D esert Hotspur ... 5 395-Buffal o Bill's Star Play ............ 5 470-Buffal o Bill and the Mining Shark .. 5 308-Buffal o Bill's Whirlwind Chase ...... 5 396-Bu ffalo Bill's Bluff ......... ....... 5 471-Buffal o Bill and the Cattle Barons .. 5 309-Buffalo Bill's R e d Retribution .... . 5 397-Bu ffnlo Bill's Trackers ............. 5 472-Buffnlo Bill's Long Odds .......... 5 312-Bufl'al o Bill's Death Jump .......... 5 398-Buffal o Bill's Dutch Pard .......... 5 473-Buffalo Bill, the Peacemaker ....... 5 314-Buffalo Bill in the Jaws of Death .... 5 399-Buffalo Bill and the Bravo ......... 5 474-Buffalo B!U's Promise to Pay ....... 5 315-Buffal o Bill's Aztec Runne r s . ..... 5 400-Buffnl o Bill and the Quaker ........ 5 475-Buffalo Bill's Diamond Hitch .... ... 5 316-Buffalo Bill's Dance with Death ..... 5 401-Buffalo Bill's Package of Death ... . 5 476-Bulfalo Bill and the Wheel of Fate 5 319-Buffa l o B!ll's Mazeppa Ride ....... 5 402-Bulfalo Bill's Treasure Cache ....... 5 477-Butl'alo Bill aud the Pool of Mystery 5 321-Buff a l o Blll's Gypsy Band .......... 5 403-Butl'alo Bill's Private War ......... 5 478-Bull'alo B!ll and the Deserter ........ 5 324-Butl' a l o B!ll's Go ld Hunters ......... 5 404-Bull'alo Bill and the Troubl e Hunter. 5 479-Buffal o Bill's Island in the Air ...... 5 325-Buffal o Bill in Old Mexico ......... 5 405-Butl'alo B ill and t h e Rope Wizard ... 5 481-Bu ll'a l o Bill's Ultimatum ........... 5 326-Bu tl'alo Bill's Message from the Dead 5 406-Butl'alo B!ll's F iesta ...... ......... 5 482-Buffal o Blll"s Test ................. 5 327-Buffal o Bill and the Wolf-maste r .... 5 407-Buffalo Bill Among the Cheyennes .. 5 483-Buffal o Bill and the Ponca Raiders. 5 328-Butl' a l o Bill's F l yi n g Wonde r ........ 5 408-Butl'alo Bill Besi ege d ............... 5 484-Buffnlo Bill's Boldest Stroke ....... n 32\J-Buffalo Bill's Hidde n Gold ........ . 5 409-Buffalo Bill and the R e d Hand ..... 5 485-Bulfnlo Bill's Enigma ............. 5 330-Buffalo Bill's Outlaw Trail. ........ 5 410-Bulfalo Bill's T r ee -trunk Drift. ..... 5 486-Butl'al o Bill's Blockade ............. ;; 331-Butl'alo Bill and the Indian Q u ee n ... 5 411-Bulfalo Bill and the Specter ........ 5 487-Butl'alo Bill and the Glided Clique ... 332-Butl'alo Bill and the Mad Maraude r . 5 412-Buffalo Bill and the R ed Feathers . 5 488-Butl'nlo Bill and Perdlta Reyes ..... ::> 333-Butl'alo B ill's I ce Barrica d e ......... 5 413-Buffnlo B ill's King Stroke .......... 5 480-Buffnlo Bill and the Roomers ....... 5 334-Buffalo Bill and the Robb e r Elk ..... 5 414-Buffnlo Bill the D esert Cyc l one .... 5 490-Bull'alo Bill Call s a Halt ........... 5 335-Butl'alo Bill's G host Datrce .......... 5 415-Bull'alo B ill's C um b res Scouts ..... .. 5 492Bull'nl o Bill's 0 K ................ 5 336-Butl'alo Bill's Peace-pip Bill at C lenrwatrr .......... 5 516-Butl'alo Bills Pacific Power ........ n 363-Buffalo Bill's Quest ................ 5 442-Buffnlo Bp1;s Wlnnini;: Hnnd ........ 5 517-Buffal o Bill and Chief Hawkchee ... 5 364-Bu!l'alo Bill's Waif of the Plains .... 5 443-Buffalo Bills Cinch Claim .......... 5 518-Buffnlo Bill and the Indian Girl. ... n 366-Buffnlo Bill Among the Mormons .... 5 444-Buffalo Bill's Comrndes .. .. .. ...... 5 510-BL1tl'al o Bill Across the Rio Grande .. 5 367-Bufl'alo Bill's Assistance ......... . 5 445-Bull'alo Bill in the Bnd Lands ....... 5 520-Butl'alo Bill and the Headless Ilorse-368-Buffalo Bill's Rattlesnake Trail . . 5 446-Bull'nlo Bill and the Boy Bugler ..... 5 man ......... ........... ..... r. 369-Buffa lo B ill and the Slave -d ea l e r s . 5 447-Buffalo Bill and the Heath e n Chi nee. 5 521-Buffalo Bill's C l ea n Sweep ......... 5 370-Bull'alo Bill's Strong Arm. . . . . 5 448-Buffalo Bill nnd the Chink War ..... 5 522-Buffalo Bill's Handful of Pearls .... 5 371-Buffnlo B ill's Girl Pard ............ 5 449-Butl'alo Bill's Chinese Chase ....... 5 523-Bul'fnl o Bill's Pueblo Foes .......... 5 372-Bufl'al o B ill's Iron Brace l Pts ........ 5 4ii0-Buffalo Bill's Secret Message ....... 5 524-Bull'alo Bill"s Tnos Totem .... ..... !l 374-Buffalo Bill's Jnde Amulet. ..... . 5 451-Butl'alo Bill and the Horde of Her-525-Bulfalo Bill and the Pawnee Prophet 5 375 Buffa lo Bill's Mni;:lc Lariat. ........ 5 mosa . ................. ..... 5 526-Buffalo Bill and Old Wanderoo ...... 5 377-Buffalo Bill's Bridge of Fire ........ 5 452-Buffnlo Rill's Lonesome Trail ....... 5 fi27-Buffnl o Bill's Ai1crry War .......... r; 378-Buffa lo Bill's Bowle .......... .... ,. 5 4fi3-Bull'alo Bill's Quarry ............... 5 528-Buffnlo Bill and Grizzly Dnn ....... 5 379-Butl'al o Bill's Pay-streak ......... 5 454-Buffnlo Rill In Deadwood .......... 5 529-Buffnlo Bill at Lone Tree Gap ...... 5 380-Buffal o Bill's Mine ................. 5 4=>5-Butl'n l o Rill's Aid .... ....... 5 =>30-Butl'n l o Bill's Trail of Death ....... 5 381-Bufl'alo Bill's Clean-u p ............ 5 4ii6-Butl'nl o Rill nnd Old Moonlight ..... 5 !'i31-Rnffnlo Bill at Clmaroon Bar ....... 5 382-Bnffal o Bill's Ruse ............... .. 5 4ii7-Buffnlo Bill Repaid . ............. n n32-Bull'alo B ill and the S luice Robber ... 5 383-Bntl'a lo Bill Overboard ............ 5 4=>8-Bull'al o Rill's Throwbnck .......... 5 533-Bulfalo Bill on Los t Rive r .......... 5 384-Buffalo Bill's Ring ................. 5 459-Bulfnl o Rill's "Sigh t Unseen ....... !'\ =>34-Bnlfalo Bill's Thunderbolt ...... ... n 385B utl' a l o Bill's Big Contract ......... 5 460-Rulfnlo Bill's New Pard ........... :> 535-Butl'alo Bill's Si oux Circus .......... Ci 386-Buffal o Bill and Calamity .Tnne ..... 5 461-Bnffalo B ill's "Winired Victory" .... n 536-Buffalo Bill's Sioux Tackle ......... n 387-Buffal o Bill's Kid Pa rd ............ 5 462-Butl'nlo Bill's Plecl's-of-<'iirht ........ 5 537-Buffnlo Bill nnd the Talking Statue .. fl Bill's Desperate Plli:ht ...... 5 463-Bul'falo R ill nnd the F,lght Vaqueros 5 538-Buffalo Bill's M edicine Trail. . . . 5 389-Bufl'.a lo Bill's Fearless Stand ....... 5 464-Buffal o Bill's Unlu c ky Siesta ...... 5 539-Butl'al o Bill and the Knife Wizard ... 5 If you want any back numbers of our weeklies and cannot procure them from your newsdealer they can be obtained direct from this office. Postage-stamps taken the same as m oney. STREET A SMITH, PUBLISHERS, 79 SEVENTH AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY


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