CHAPTER XIX.SENDING AWAY THE BUCKBOARD.
“What are we to do now, Buffalo Bill?” inquired Dell. “We have the star-faced cayuses, all right. What’s to be done with them?”
“You left Little Cayuse guarding Banks and Hendricks?” returned the scout.
“Yes. When we heard firing in this direction, Cayuse and I thought that one of us ought to come and investigate. We decided that I should be the one.”
“When you came here you passed the buckboard, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, there are the horses, harnessed and ready to be put to the pole. I suppose you know how to hitch up?”
“Well, I reckon!” laughed Dell.
“Then hitch the cayuses to the buckboard and take Annie to the mine. You’ll not be troubled on the trip. The five Apaches are at Squaw Rock, and so cannot molest you. You’ll have to drive from here to the Black Cañon trail, I suppose?”
“Yes. We can reach the Black Cañon trail easily from this place.”
“Could you also go by way of that old mining-shaft? Nomad, you know, was to be there with the letter and the bar of bullion, and I told him to hide somewhere and then follow the man who came to get the letter and the gold. You can probably locate Nomad, all right.Do that, and send him here. Then you can tear up McGowan’s letter, and let Miss McGowan carry the bullion back to her father.”
“What letter?” asked Annie McGowan. “And what bullion is this you’re talking about?”
“Dell will tell you on the way to the mine, Miss McGowan,” replied the scout. “As soon as you reach the mine, Dell, have McGowan send a man to Phœnix after Rising, the sheriff. Tell the messenger to inform Rising that we have Bascomb and Bernritter trapped, and waiting for him.”
“I’ll do it, Buffalo Bill,” said Dell. “You’ll be able to take care of those fellows on the island, all right?”
“Easily. There’s nothing to do but to watch sharply and keep hold of my guns. Get the horses, you and Miss McGowan. Each of you had better lead one, and walk on this side of the animal. I don’t think Bascomb and Bernritter will do any more shooting, but it is just as well for you to be on the safe side.”
The two girls got up and stepped toward the waiting horses.
“Where and when will I see you again, Buffalo Bill?” Dell asked.
“I can’t tell that, Dell, but I hope it will be soon. You’re a brave girl, and you have been a big help to me in this bit of work.”
“I haven’t done so much, Buffalo Bill, but my intentions were good. I’m your pard, am I not?”
“Certainly!”
“Thank you. It’s something to be Buffalo Bill’s girl pard. Come on, Annie.”
The girls hurried to the horses and each took one bythe bridle and started away in the direction of the buckboard.
“When you pass Little Cayuse, Dell,” the scout called, “you might tell him to ride on here with Bear Paw and to bring Banks and Hendricks along. Until Nomad comes, I’ll feel better to have the boy with me.”
“I’ll tell him,” Dell answered.
The scout watched until the forms of the horses and the girls had vanished in the dusk.
All was silent on the island. From appearances, Bascomb and Bernritter had given up the fight, and were probably behind the breastwork talking over recent disastrous events with Giles.
Quick with his weapons as was Buffalo Bill, he would have felt abundantly able to keep a dozen men bottled up on the island. The only way Bascomb and Bernritter could possibly escape would be by rushing across the causeway at top speed, in the hope of gaining the main shore. With a marksman like the scout guarding the shore-end of the shaking bridge, such an attempt would have been nothing less than suicide.
An hour passed before Little Cayuse came with Bear Paw and the two horses on which were Banks and Hendricks. Banks and Hendricks had seen the buckboard go past the valley with Annie McGowan and Dell, so they knew Buffalo Bill had been successful in rescuing the girl. How he had done it was more than they could tell, for Dell Dauntless had not taken time to explain the situation to Little Cayuse.
“Where’s Bascomb an’ Bernritter?” asked Hendricks.
“Over there on the island.”
“What’s become o’ Giles?”
“Well, Giles stretched that bridge for me, and when hetried to get away with this plunder I grabbed him and tied him up——”
“Ye never!” breathed the astounded Banks.
“And then,” proceeded the scout, “I carried a keg of water across, rescued Miss McGowan, sent Giles for the horses, and then sent him back again after he had got the horses over.”
“The three of ’em’s over thar, hey?” stuttered Hendricks.
“Yes.”
“An’ they hevn’t tried ter come across?”
“Oh, yes, they’ve tried three times; but I’m pretty well barricaded here, and they’re afraid of my bullets.”
“Blazes ter blazes an’ kerry one!” breathed Banks.
“How’s this fer a layout?” muttered Hendricks. “An’ all done by one man.”
“Buffalo Bill,” added Banks. “No use tryin’ ter pull off a deal when he butts inter it. We was lame, Hendricks, in agreein’ ter help Bascomb an’ Bernritter when we knowed the king of scouts was agin’ us.”
“But Bascomb said that hevin’ possession o’ the girl would knock the scout galley-west, an’ that he couldn’t do a thing.”
“Waal, what’s he done?” queried Banks satirically. “Here’s us, an’ where’s Bascomb, an’ Bernritter, an’ Giles? We’re down an’ out, the hull kit an’ caboodle o’ us.”
“Nary, Banks,” said Hendricks. “We’ve saved our own bacon onless the scout goes back on his word. How is it, Buffalo Bill?”
“I’ll keep my promise to you,” answered the scout, “but I don’t want to turn you adrift until the sheriff comes.”
“Sher’f! Ishecoming?”
“He’ll be here to-morrow.”
“I don’t keer pertic’l’rly erbout meetin’ up with the sher’f, but if you say ye’ll keep yer word I don’t reckon we got any kick comin’.”
“It wouldn’t do you any good if you had, Hendricks,” said the scout.
Untying the feet of the two prisoners, Buffalo Bill let them dismount; then he bound their ankles again, and they sat upon the ground, their backs against the boxes of provisions.
“How are you feeling, Cayuse?” asked the scout.
“Me all right,” answered the boy, who had had his ears wide open listening to all the scout had said.
“How’s your shoulder?”
“Him fine.”
“You haven’t had any dinner or supper, Cayuse. Get down from Bear Paw and untie that bag from the saddle-cantle. It’s full of chuck, and I reckon we’d both enjoy a dip into it. While we’re eating, Cayuse, you might help me keep watch of that bridge across the quicksands.”
Cayuse followed the scout’s instructions, and he and the scout made a hurried meal off the food brought from the mine, and likewise supplied Banks and Hendricks with some of it.
“How did Bascomb and Bernritter happen upon such a place as this for a rendezvous, Hendricks?” asked Buffalo Bill.
“Bernritter knowed about it, I was told,” replied Hendricks, “an’ he put it up ter Bascomb.”
“Who invented that causeway?”
“Bernritter. He made it while he was at the mine,Bascomb said, an’ then brought it down here an’ tried it. It worked ter a charm. Ye see, ye kin unroll it and walk out from the island; then, when ye’re ready ter go back ter the island, ye kin roll it up behind ye an’ take it in. No one kin cross unless them as is on the island wants ’em to.”
“Very clever,” commented the scout, “but Bascomb and Bernritter evidently overlooked the fact that it’s a thing that will work both ways. The quicksand keeps enemies away from them, and, at the same time, it keeps them away from their enemies.”
“Waal,” muttered Hendricks, “thar’s a flaw in most schemes, an’ I ain’t s’prised none ter find er flaw in this ’un o’ Bernritter’s.”
At this juncture, Little Cayuse started to his feet with a warning, “Ugh! Lis’en!”
What the boy heard was a patter of galloping hoofs on the sand. A moment later a familiar voice boomed out into the night:
“Buffler! Whar ther tarnation aire ye, anyways? Whoo-ee!”
“This way, Nick!” shouted the scout. Half a minute later old Nomad and his horse took form in the moonlight, and galloped up to the barricade.
“Waal,” cried old Nomad, “what ther blazes hes been goin’ on, Buffler? Hyer I’ve been hidin’ out in the chaparral fer three mortil hours, watchin’ a letter an’ a five-pound bar o’ bullion what I’d placed, with exceedin’ keer, on the top o’ ther ore-dump at thet ole minin’-shaft. Then, all ter oncet, erlong comes Dell in a buckboard with a gal beside her.
“‘Thet you, Nomad?’ says she.
“‘Ther same,’ says I, ‘but chase yerself off kase ye’ll skeer erway ther man I’m expectin’.’
“‘The man will not come,’ says she, with er laff.
“‘Fer why won’t he come?’ I says.
“‘Fer ther reason,’ she expounds, ‘thet Buffler hes got him erbout es good as captered.’
“‘Now, what d’ye think o’ thet?’ says I. ‘Who’s thet with ye?’ I goes on.
“‘This hyar is Annie McGowan,’ says Dell. ‘Annie, Mr. Nomad, Buffler Bill’s pard.’
“‘Wharever did Annie come from?’ I asks.
“‘Buffler rescued her,’ says Dell.
“‘Sufferin’ catermounts!’ I says; ‘ain’t nobody been doin’ nothin’ but Buffler?’
“‘Hardly,’ says Dell, then tells me whar ter come, and she an’ the McGowan gal rides off with the bar o’ gold, tearin’ up McGowan’s agreement as they goes.
“So,” finished the trapper, “thet’s why I’m hyar, Buffler, an’ I’m plumb hungry ter find out what ye done an’ how ye done et. Blaze erway, won’t ye?”
The scout “blazed away,” and Nomad was soon in possession of all the facts.
He had an admiring word for the scout, and a word of regret because he had not himself been able to figure in the exciting affair of the afternoon and night.
Nick was placed on guard at the end of the causeway, however, and he was hoping against hope that Bascomb or Bernritter would make a dash, and offer him a little excitement. But nothing of the kind happened.
Morning came, and as the light increased the scout got a better view of the island. Bascomb and Bernritter were not to be seen, and were probably keeping closely under cover of their stone breastwork.
A little after noon Rising, the sheriff, came whipping along the shore from the direction of the trail.
“Hello, there, Cody!” he shouted. “Here we are again, Hawkins and I. Some one brought word to us that you had captured Bascomb and Bernritter.”
“They’re not exactly captured, but the next thing to it, Rising,” the scout answered, as the sheriff and his deputy leaped out of the buckboard. “They’re on the island, out there, and the only way they can escape is by coming across that patent bridge.”
“Before we proceed any farther, you’d better tell me about it.”
Once more the scout sketched the important details of recent events.
“Well, I’ll be dinged!” muttered Hawkins, the deputy. “It only took Buffalo Bill a night an’ a day ter git next ter Bernritter’s game fer robbing the Three-ply an’ ter put ther kibosh on it, an’ only a day an’ a night ter rescue Annie McGowan an’ git Bascomb an’ Bernritter up a tree. What’s ther move, Rising? Shall we go across an’ hunt ther varmints out?”
“Let’s see if they won’t come ashore without making any trouble,” said Rising, stepping to the edge of the quicksands. Making a trumpet of his hands, he yelled: “Hello, out there!”
Three heads appeared above the boulders of the breastworks.
“Hello, yerself!” called Bascomb.
“I’m the sheriff,” explained Rising. “Will you fellows come ashore, or shall we come after you?”
“Oh, we won’t make you any more trouble than necessary,” answered Bernritter. “We’ll come ashore.”
“That’s sensible. When you get ready to take thebridge, hand your weapons to Giles and let him come ahead. Do that in plain sight of us, so we can be sure it’s done.”
“We’ll have to bring our horses,” said Bernritter.
“Certainly; but lead them—don’t get on their backs.”
The three heads vanished from the top of the breastwork and, presently, Bascomb, Bernritter, and Giles appeared leading their horses and making for the causeway.
Just before reaching the bridge Giles forged ahead, and Bascomb and Bernritter tendered him their revolvers. With the weapons under his arm, Giles came across the bridge.
“Drop the guns,” said the scout, “get on your horse and scatter out of this.”
“That’s me!” said the gratified Giles, and he was into his saddle like a flash, and spurring away toward the hills.
While Bascomb and Bernritter were coming across, Buffalo Bill released Banks and Hendricks, emptied their six-shooters of cartridges, and dumped all the shells out of their cartridge-belts.
“When you release a couple of wolves,” the scout remarked, “it’s a good plan to draw their fangs. Now, then, Banks and Hendricks, show us your heels; and remember this, both of you: If your trails ever again cross mine, you’ll have cause to regret it.”
“They’ll not cross yours if I’ve got anythin’ ter say erbout it!” cried Banks.
“Them’s my sentiments, too!” added Hendricks.
With that the two villains loped away.
The scout turned to Bascomb, on whose wrists Hawkins had just slipped a pair of bracelets.
“Bascomb, otherwise Slocum,” said the scout, “you’re my prisoner. I have orders to take you to Fort Apache.”
Bascomb whirled on the scout like a tiger.
“Ye’re after me fer desertin’, hey?” he snarled.
“That’s it.”
“If I’d knowed that, I’d hev stayed on that island an’ fought ye off as long as I’d had a ca’tridge fer my guns.”
“Then you would have done a very foolish thing, and probably have lost your life.”
“I’d ruther a heap lose my life than go back ter Fort Apache!”
“The man you shot there didn’t die,” said the scout, “so you needn’t worry about the gallows.” He turned to Rising. “Will you hold Bascomb for me, in Phœnix, till I want him?” he asked.
“Sure,” replied the sheriff.
Half an hour later, Rising, Hawkins, Bernritter, and Bascomb were traveling in the direction of Phœnix, while Buffalo Bill, Nomad, and Little Cayuse were going the other way, toward the Three-ply Mine.
The meeting between Annie McGowan and her father was as happy as it was unexpected on the mine-owner’s part.
McGowan could scarcely believe that the scout had really found and rescued his daughter in the way described to him by Dell and Annie. It seemed impossible that one man, lone-handed, could accomplish so much.
When the scout and his pards arrived at the camp, on the following afternoon, McGowan and his daughter met them, and both tendered their deepest thanks.
“You saved more than forty thousand dollars’ worth of bullion for me, a few days ago, Buffalo Bill,” observed McGowan, with feeling, “and now you have rescued my daughter. What can I do for you to show my gratitude?”
“Your thanks are more than enough, McGowan,” said the scout kindly. “I was doing some work for the government, too, you remember, and in carrying out my duty as government scout, it was surely a pleasure to find that I could serve you and Miss McGowan as I did. Only”—and the scout’s eyes twinkled as he said it—“don’t try to keep me here any longer. When we make our next start for Phœnix, I and my pards want to get away.”
“Annie and I were hoping that you would remain with us for a few days, anyhow,” said McGowan.
“Impossible,” said the scout. “We must leave here in the morning and take Bascomb back to Fort Apache.” Then, as he looked around, he asked: “By the way, what’s become of Dauntless Dell?”
“She had to go back to the Double D Ranch, Buffalo Bill,” said McGowan. “When she left, she said she hoped you and your pards would stay here for a day or two so that she might ride over again and see you.”
“Much as I should like to see my girl pard again,” said the scout, “it will be impossible for us to wait. That girl is a little brick—one of the bravest and finest young women I ever met.”
“Shore she is!” cried Nomad.
“Wuh!” added Little Cayuse, nodding vigorously.