{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_15583/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_15583","id":"gutenberg_15583","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15583","summary":null,"tags":["Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917 -- Fiction","Category: Adventure","Category: American Literature","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Dime novels","Western stories"],"text":"Produced by David Starner, David Garcia and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team.\n\n\n\n\n\n\nA NEW FIELD! WITHOUT A RIVAL! JUST THE THING! TRUTH STRANGER THAN FICTION!\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------\n\n           Beadle's BOY'S LIBRARY of Sport, Story and Adventure\n\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------\nEntered at the Post Office at New York, N.Y., as Second Class Mail Matter.\n$2.50 a year.  Copyrighted in 1881 by BEADLE AND ADAMS. December 14, 1881.\n==========================================================================\nVol. I.  Single   PUBLISHED WEEKLY BY BEADLE AND ADAMS,    Price,   No. 1.\n         Number.    No. 98 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK.     Five Cents.\n==========================================================================\n\n\n           Adventures of BUFFALO BILL FROM BOYHOOD TO MANHOOD.\n\n          Deeds of Daring and Romantic Incidents in the Life of\n                 Wm. F. Cody, the Monarch of Bordermen.\n\n                   *       *       *       *       *\n\n                     BY COLONEL PRENTISS INGRAHAM.\n\n[Illustration: MADDENED WITH FRIGHT, THE BULL BOUNDED INTO THE AIR,\nSNORTED WILDLY, GORED THOSE IN ADVANCE, AND SOON LED THE HERD.]\n\n\n\n\n\n\nAdventures of Buffalo Bill\n\nFrom Boyhood to Manhood.\n\nDeeds of Daring, Scenes of Thrilling Peril, and Romantic Incidents in\nthe Early Life of W.F. Cody, the Monarch of Bordermen.\n\nBY COLONEL PRENTISS INGRAHAM.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nPROLOGUE.\n\n\nThat Truth is, by far, stranger than Fiction, the lessons of our daily\nlives teach us who dwell in the marts of civilization, and therefore we\ncannot wonder that those who live in scenes where the rifle, revolver\nand knife are in constant use, to protect and take life, can strange\ntales tell of thrilling perils met and subdued, and romantic incidents\noccurring that are far removed from the stern realities of existence.\n\nThe land of America is full of romance, and tales that stir the blood\ncan be told over and over again of bold Privateers and reckless\nBuccaneers who have swept along the coasts; of fierce naval battles, sea\nchases, daring smugglers; and on shore of brave deeds in the saddle and\nafoot; of red trails followed to the bitter end and savage encounters in\nforest wilds.\n\nAnd it is beyond the pale of civilization I find the hero of these pages\nwhich tell of thrilling adventures, fierce combats, deadly feuds and\nwild rides, that, one and all, are true to the letter, as hundreds now\nliving can testify.\n\nWho has not heard the name of Buffalo Bill--a magic name, seemingly, to\nevery boy's heart?\n\nAnd yet in the uttermost parts of the earth it is known among men.\n\nA child of the prairie, as it were, Buffalo Bill will go down to history\nas one of America's strange heroes who has loved the trackless wilds,\nrolling plains and mountain solitudes of our land, far more than the\nbustle and turmoil, the busy life and joys of our cities, and who has\nstood as a barrier between civilization and savagery, risking his own\nlife to save the lives of others.\n\nGlancing back over the past, we recall a few names that have stood out\nin the boldest relief in frontier history, and they are Daniel Boone,\nDavy Crockett, Kit Carson and W.F. Cody--the last named being Buffalo\nBill, the King of Bordermen.\n\nKnowing the man well, having seen him amid the greatest dangers, shared\nwith him his blanket and his camp-fire's warmth, I feel entitled to\nwrite of him as a hero of heroes, and in the following pages sketch his\nremarkable career from boyhood to manhood.\n\nBorn in the State of Iowa in 1843, his father being one of the bold\npioneers to that part of the West, Buffalo Bill, or Will Cody, was\ninured to scenes of hardship and danger ere he reached his tenth year,\nand being a precocious youth, his adventurous spirit led him into all\nsorts of deeds of mischief and daring, which well served to lay the\nfoundation for the later acts of his life.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nA CAPTURE OF OUTLAWS.\n\n\nWhen Will was but nine years of age his first thrilling adventure\noccurred, and it gave the boy a name for pluck and nerve that went with\nhim to Kansas, where his father removed with his family shortly after\nthe incident which I will now relate.\n\nThe circumstance to which I refer, and that made a boy hero of him in\nthe eyes of the neighbors for miles around where his parents lived,\nshowed the wonderful nerve that has never since deserted him, but rather\nhas increased with his years.\n\nThe country school which he attended was some five miles from his\nfather's house and he was wont to ride there each morning and back in\nthe afternoon upon a wiry, vicious little mustang that every one had\nprognosticated would some day be the death of him.\n\nLiving a few miles from the Cody ranch was a poor settler who had a son\ntwo years Billy's senior, who also attended the same school, but whose\nparents were too poor to spare him a horse from the farm to ride.\n\nThis boy was Billy's chum, and as they shared together their noonday\nmeal, the pony was also shared, for the boy rode behind my hero to and\nfrom school, being called for each morning and dropped off near his\ncabin on the return trip.\n\nOwing to the lawlessness of the country Mr. Cody allowed his son to go\narmed, knowing that he fully understood the use of weapons, and his\npistol Billy always hung up with his hat upon reaching the log cabin,\nwhere, figuratively speaking, the young idea was taught to shoot.\n\nThe weapon was a revolver, a Colt's, which at that time was not in\ncommon use, and Billy prized it above his books and pony even and always\nkept it in perfect order.\n\nOne day Rascal, his pony, pulled up the lariat pin which held him out\nupon the prairie and scampered for home, and Billy and Davie Dunn, his\nchum, were forced to \"hoof it,\" as the western slang goes, home.\n\nA storm was coming on, and to escape it the boys turned off the main\ntrail and took refuge in a log cabin which was said to be haunted by the\nghosts of its former occupants; at least they had been all mysteriously\nmurdered there one night and were buried in the shadow of the cabin, and\npeople gave the place a wide berth.\n\nIt was situated back in a piece of heavy timber and looked dismal\nenough, but Billy proposed that they should go there, more out of sheer\nbravado to show he was not afraid than to escape a ducking, for which he\nand Davie Dunn really little cared.\n\nThe boys reached the cabin, climbed in an open window and stood looking\nout at the approaching storm.\n\n\"Kansas crickets! but look there, Davie!\"\n\nThe words came from Buffalo Billy and he was pointing out toward the\ntrail.\n\nThere four horsemen were seen coming toward the cabin at a rapid gallop.\n\n\"Who be they, Billy?\" asked Davie.\n\n\"They are some of them horse-thieves, Davie, that have been playing the\nmischief of late about here, and we'd better dust.\"\n\n\"But they'll see us go out.\"\n\n\"That's so! Let us coon up into the loft, for they'll only wait till the\nstorm blows over, for they are coming here for shelter.\"\n\nUp to the loft of the cabin, through a trapdoor, the boys went quickly\nand laid quietly down, peering through the cracks in the boards. The\nfour horsemen dashed up, hastily unsaddled their horses and lariated\nthem out, and bounded into the cabin through the window, just as the\nstorm broke with fury upon forest and plain.\n\nAs still as mice the boys lay, but they quickly looked toward each\nother, for the conversation of the men below, one of whom was kindling\na fire in the broad chimney, told them that, if discovered, their lives\nwould be the forfeit.\n\nIn fact, they were four of a band of outlaws that had been infesting the\ncountry of late, stealing horses, and in some cases taking life and\nrobbing the cabins of the settlers, and one of them said plainly:\n\n\"Pards, when I was last in this old ranch it was six years ago, when we\ncame to rob Foster Beal who lived here; he showed fight, shot two of the\nboys, and we wiped the whole family out; but now let us get away with\nwhat grub we've got, and then plan what is best to do to-night. As for\nmyself, I say strike old Cody's ranch, for he's got dust.\"\n\nThe boys were greatly alarmed at this, but, putting his mouth close to\nDavie Dunn's ear, Billy Cody whispered:\n\n\"Davie, you see that shutter in the end of the roof?\"\n\n\"Yes, Billy,\" was the trembling reply.\n\n\"Well, you slip out of there, drop to the ground and make for your home\nand tell your father who is here.\"\n\n\"And you, Billy?\"\n\n\"I'll just keep here, and if these fellows attempt to go I'll shoot\n'em.\"\n\n\"But you can't, Billy.\"\n\n\"I've got my revolver, Davie and you bet I'll use it! Go, but don't make\na fuss, and get your father to come on with the settlers as soon as you\ncan, for I won't be happy till you get back.\"\n\nDavie Dunn was trembling considerably; but he arose noiselessly, crossed\nto the window at the end of the roof, and which was but a small\naperture, closed by a wooden shutter, which he cautiously opened. The\nnoise he made was drowned by the pelting rain and furious wind, and the\nrobbers went on chatting together, while Davie slipped out and dropped\nto the ground.\n\nBut ere he had been gone half an hour the outlaws were ready to start,\nthe rain having ceased in a measure, and night was coming on to hide\ntheir red deeds.\n\n\"Hold on, boys, for I've got ye all covered. He's a dead man who moves.\"\n\nBilly had crept to the trap, and in his hoarsest tones, had spoken,\nwhile the men sprung to their feet at his words, and glancing upward saw\nthe threatening revolver.\n\nOne attempted to draw a weapon, but the boy's forefinger touched the\ntrigger, and the outlaw fell dead at the flash, shot straight through\nthe heart!\n\nThis served as a warning to the others, and they stood like statues,\nwhile one said:\n\n\"Pard, who is yer?\"\n\nBut Billy feared to again trust his voice and answered not a word. He\nlay there, his revolver just visible over the edge of the boards, and\ncovering the hearts of the three men crouching back into the corner, but\nfull in the light from the flickering fire, while almost at their feet\nlay their dead comrade.\n\nAgain and again they spoke to Billy, but he gave no reply.\n\nThen they threatened to make it warm for him, and one suggested that\nthey make a break for the door.\n\nBut, each one seemed to feel that the revolver covered him, and none\nwould make the attempt, for they had ocular demonstration before them of\nthe deadly aim of the eye behind the weapon.\n\nTo poor little Billy, and I suppose to the men too, it seemed as if ages\nwere passing away, in the hour and a quarter that Davie Dunn was gone,\nfor he had bounded upon one of the outlaws' horses and ridden away like\nthe wind.\n\nBut, at last, Billy heard a stern voice say:--\n\n\"Boys, you is our meat.\"\n\nAt the same time several pistols were thrust into the window, and in\ncame the door, burst open with a terrific crash that was music to\nBilly's ears; while in dashed a dozen bold settlers, led by farmer Dunn.\n\nThe three outlaws were not only captured, but, being recognized as old\noffenders, were swung up to a tree, while Billy and Davie became indeed\nboy heroes, and the former especially was voted the lion of the log\ncabin school, for had he not \"killed his man?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nBILLY'S FIRST DUEL.\n\n\nNear where Billy's father settled in Kansas, dwelt a farmer who had a\nson and daughter, the former being fourteen, and the latter eighteen.\n\nAs is often the case with boys, Billy fell in love with Nannie Vennor,\nwhich was the young lady's name, although she at eighteen was just seven\nyears older than he was.\n\nBut she had been over to call on the Cody girls with her brother, and a\ndeep attachment at once sprung up between the boys, and Billy became the\ndevoted slave of Nannie, making her a horse-hair bridle for her pony,\ngathering her wild flowers whenever he went over to the Vennor farm, and\nin fact being as devoted in his attentions as a young man of twenty-one\ncould have been.\n\nBut Nannie had another lover, in fact a score of them from among the\nneighboring young settlers, but one in particular who bid fair to be\nBilly's most dangerous rival. This one was a dashing young fellow from\nLeavenworth, with a handsome face and fine form, and who always had\nplenty of money.\n\nFolks said he was very dissipated, was a gambler, and his name had been\nconnected several times with some very serious affairs that had occurred\nin the town.\n\nBut then he had a winning manner, sung well, and Nannie's beaux had to\nall admit that he was every inch the man, and one they cared not to\nanger.\n\nFrom the first Billy Cody hated him, and did not pretend to hide the\nfact; but it seemed the boy's intuitive reading of human nature, as much\nas his jealousy on account of Nannie Vennor.\n\nOne day Billy was seated by the side of a small stream fishing.\n\nThe bank was behind him, rising some eight feet, and he had ensconced\nhimself upon a log that had been drifting down the stream in a freshet,\nand lodged there.\n\nBack from him, bordering the little creek ran the trail to the nearest\ntown, and along this rode two persons.\n\nThe quick ear of the boy heard hoof-falls, and glancing quickly over the\nbank he saw three horsemen approaching, and one of these he recognized\nas Hugh Hall his rival.\n\nJust back of Billy was a grove of cottonwood trees, and here the men\nhalted for a short rest in the shade, and all they said distinctly\nreached the boy's ears.\n\n\"I tell you, pards,\" said Hugh Hall, \"I cannot longer delay then, so if\nold Vennor refuses to let me have Nannie I'll just take her.\"\n\n\"The best way, Hugh; but what about the wife that's now on your trail?\"\nasked one.\n\n\"What care I for her, after I have run off with Nannie?\"\n\n\"But she'll blow on you to old man Vennor.\"\n\n\"I do not care. I'll deny it to Nannie, say the woman is crazy, and one\nby one the family will drop off until she only remains, and then she'll\nget the property.\"\n\n\"You are sure it's coming to 'em, Hugh?\" asked one.\n\n\"I am so sure that I drew up the will of Vennor's brother four years\nago, when I was practicing law in Chicago.\"\n\n\"He may have changed his mind.\"\n\n\"Nonsense; he died shortly after, and the will says if Richard Vennor\nwas not found, and the fortune turned over to him, within five years\nafter Robert Vennor's death, the fortune was to go to charity.\n\n\"Now I kept the secret dark, came out to look up Richard Vennor, and\nhaving found him, shall marry his daughter and get all!\"\n\n\"Your wife will give you trouble.\"\n\n\"I wish you to get rid of her then, and I'll pay well for it.\"\n\n\"We'll do the job, and help you all we can,\" said one, and the second\none of the pair whom Billy did not recognize, echoed his comrade's\nsentiments.\n\n\"Well, Hugh, we found Lucy was trailing you, and hearing you was about\nto strike it rich, concluded we'd come and post you for old friendship's\nsake.\"\n\n\"And I'll pay you for it; but we must not be seen together, so I'll wait\nhere while you ride on to Leavenworth, and in an hour I'll follow you.\"\n\nThis agreement seemed satisfactory, and two horsemen rode away, after a\nfew more words, while Hugh Hall threw himself down upon the grass to\nrest.\n\nFor awhile Billy Cody was very nervous at what he had heard; but he soon\ngrew calm, and having waited until he knew the two men were more than a\nmile away, he cautiously stood up upon the log and glanced over the\nbank.\n\nHugh Hall was fast asleep, and his horse was feeding near.\n\nNoiselessly Billy drew himself upon the bank and approached the man, his\nfaithful revolver held in his hand.\n\n\"I wonder if it would be wrong if I killed him, when he is such a\nvillain!\" he muttered.\n\n\"Yes, I won't do it; but I'll make him go straight to Mr. Vennor and\nI'll tell him all I heard.\n\n\"Here, Hugh Hall, farmer Vennor wants to see you.\"\n\nThe man sprung to his feet, his hand upon his revolver.\n\nBut Billy had taken the precaution to get behind a tree, and had the\ndrop on his rival.\n\n\"Oh, it's you, you accursed imp of Satan,\" cried the man angrily.\n\n\"Yes, it's me, and I want you to go to Mr. Vennor, for I'm going to tell\nhim all I heard you say,\" said the boy boldly.\n\nHugh Hall knew Billy's reputation as a fearless boy and a sure shot, and\nhe saw that he was in great danger; but he said quietly:\n\n\"Well, I was going to the farmer's and we'll ride together.\"\n\n\"No, I'll ride and you'll walk, for I came down the stream fishing\nto-day, and haven't got my pony.\"\n\nAs quick as a flash the man then drew his pistol, and firing, the bullet\ncut the bark off the tree just above the boy's head.\n\nInstantly however Billy returned the shot, and the revolver of Hugh Hall\nfell from his hand, for his arm was broken; but he picked it up quickly\nand leveled it with his left, and two shots came together.\n\nBilly's hat was turned half round on his head, showing how true was the\naim of his foe, while his bullet found a target in the body of Hugh\nHall.\n\nWith a groan he sunk upon the ground, and springing to his side, Billy\nfound him gasping fearfully for breath.\n\n\"I am sorry, Hugh Hall, but you made me do it,\" he said sorrowfully.\n\nBut the man did not reply, and running to the horse feeding near, he\nsprung into the saddle and dashed away like the wind.\n\nStraight to farmer Vennor's he went and told him all, and mounting in\nhot haste they rode back to the grove of cottonwoods.\n\nHugh Hall still lay where he had fallen; but he was dead, greatly to\nBilly's sorrow, who had hoped he would not die.\n\nThen, while farmer Vennor remained by the body, Billy went for the\nnearest neighbors, and ere nightfall Hugh Hall was buried, and his two\nallies in crime were captured in Leavenworth, and given warning to leave\nKansas forever, which they were glad to do, for they had not expected\nsuch mercy at the hands of the enraged farmers.\n\nBut before they left they confessed that Billy's story was a true one,\nand told where the wife of Hugh Hall could be found, and once again did\nthe boy become a hero, even in the eyes of the bravest men, and the\nsettlers gave him the name of Boss Boy Billy, while Nannie Vennor, now a\nmother of grown sons, each Christmas time sends him a little souvenir,\nto show him that she has not forgotten her boy lover who fought his\nfirst duel to save her from a villain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nSHOOTING FOR A PRIZE.\n\n\nWhile Mr. Cody was an Indian trader at Salt Creek Valley in Kansas,\nBilly laid the foundation for his knowledge of the red-skin character,\nand which served him so well in after years and won him a name as scout\nand hunter that no one else has ever surpassed.\n\nFor days at a time Billy would be in the Indian villages, and often he\nwould go with the warriors on their buffalo and game hunts, and now and\nthen would join a friendly band in a war trail against hostiles.\n\nAnother favorite resort of Billy's was Fort Leavenworth, where his\nhandsome face, fearlessness and manly nature made him a great favorite\nwith both officers and men.\n\nOn one occasion while at the fort a large Government herd of horses,\nlately brought up from Texas, where they had been captured wild on the\nprairies, stampeded, and could not be retaken.\n\nOnce or twice Billy had come into the fort with a pony of the fugitive\nherd which he had captured, and the quartermaster said to him:\n\n\"Billy, if that herd remains much longer free, they will be harder to\ntake than real wild horses, so go to work and I'll give you a reward of\nten dollars for every one you bring in, for the Government authorizes me\nto make that offer.\"\n\nThis was just to Billy's taste, and he went at once home and spent a\ncouple of days preparing for the work before him, and from which his\nmother and sisters tried to dissuade him; but the boy saw in it a\nbonanza and would not give it up.\n\nHis own pony, Rascal, he knew, was not fast enough for the work ahead,\nso he determined to get a better mount, and rode over to the fort to see\na sergeant who had an animal not equaled for speed on the plains.\n\nRascal, some sixty dollars, a rifle, and some well-tanned skins were\noffered for the sergeant's horse and refused, and in despair Billy knew\nnot what to do, for he had gotten to the end of his personal fortune.\n\n\"Sergeant,\" he suddenly cried, as a bright idea seized him.\n\n\"Well, Billy?\"\n\n\"They say you are the crack shot in the fort.\"\n\n\"I am too, Billy.\"\n\n\"Well, I'll tell you what I'll do to win your horse, Little Grey. I'll\nput up all I have offered you against your animal and shoot for them.\"\n\n\"Why, Billy, I don't want to win your pony and money.\"\n\n\"And I don't want you to; but I'll shoot with you for your horse against\nmine and all else I have offered.\"\n\nThe sergeant was a grasping man, and confident of his powers, at last\nassented, and the match was to take place at once.\n\nBut the officers learning of it were determined Billy should have fair\nplay, and a day was set a week off, and the boy was told to practice\nregularly with both pistol and rifle, for the terms were ten off-hand\nshots with the latter at fifty and one hundred yards, and six shots\nstanding with the revolver at fifteen paces and six from horseback, and\nriding at full speed by the target.\n\nBilly at once set to work to practice, though he had confidence in his\nunerring aim, and upon the day of trial came to the fort with a smiling\nface.\n\nNearly everybody in the fort went out to see the match, and the sergeant\nwas called first to toe the mark.\n\nHe raised his rifle and his five shots at fifty yards were quickly\nfired.\n\nBilly gave a low whistle, but toed the scratch promptly, and his five\nshots were truer than the sergeant's, and a wild cheer broke from one\nand all.\n\nAt one hundred yards the sergeant's shooting was better than the boy's;\nand so it was with the pistol shooting, for when standing the sergeant's\nshots were best, and in riding full speed by the target, Billy's were\nthe truest, and it was called a tie.\n\n\"How shall we shoot it off, Billy?\" asked the sergeant, who seemed\nsomewhat nervous.\n\nBilly made no reply, but went to his haversack and took from it an\napple, and going up to his pony placed him in position, the rein over\nthe horn of the saddle.\n\nThe apple he then put on the head of the pony, directly between his\nears, and stepping back while all present closely watched him, he threw\nforward his pistol and fired.\n\nThe apple flew into fragments and a wild burst of applause came from all\nsides, while Billy said quietly:\n\n\"I've got another apple, sergeant, for you to try the same on Little\nGrey.\"\n\n\"I'll not run the risk, Billy, of killing him, so give in; but I'll win\nhim back from you sometime,\" said the sergeant.\n\n\"Any time, sergeant, I'm willing to shoot,\" replied the boy, and with a\nhappy heart he mounted his prize and set off for home.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nWILD HORSE HUNTING.\n\n\nFor several days after Billy Cody got his prize he did nothing but train\nthe animal to his use and was delighted to find that Little Grey would\nfollow him like a dog wherever he went.\n\nHaving all arranged now for his wild horse hunting, he set out one day\nfrom home to be gone a week or more, he told his mother, and with the\npromise that he would bring her a small fortune soon.\n\nHe had already discovered the feeding grounds of the herd, and thither\nhe went at once, arriving in the vicinity shortly before dark.\n\nAs he had expected, he found the herd, nearly five hundred in number,\nbut he kept out of sight of them, as it was so near dark, and camped\nuntil morning, when he found they had gone up the valley for some miles.\n\nCautiously he followed them, and getting near unobserved at last made a\ndash upon them.\n\nInto their midst he went and a good horse was picked out and lariated in\nthe twinkling of an eye and quickly hoppled and turned loose.\n\nThen another and another, until Billy felt that he had done a pretty\ngood day's work.\n\nHe had discovered two things, however, and that was that Little Grey\nseemed more than a match for any of the herd with one exception, and\nthat one was a large, gaunt-bodied black stallion, that appeared to drop\nhim behind without much effort.\n\n\"I've got to have him,\" said Billy, as he returned to his hoppled prizes\nand began to drive them toward the fort.\n\nIt was a long and tedious work, but the boy was not impatient and\nreached the fort at last and received his reward, which he at once\ncarried to his mother and received her warm congratulations upon his\nfirst success.\n\nBack to the herd's haunts went Billy, and again he camped for the night,\nbut was aroused at dawn by a sound that he at first thought was distant\nthunder.\n\nBut his ears soon were undeceived as he sprung to his feet, well knowing\nthat it was the herd of wild horses.\n\nInstantly Billy formed his plan of action and mounting Little Grey rode\ninto a thicket near by, which wholly concealed him from view.\n\nHere he waited, for he knew that the herd was coming to the river to\ndrink, and a cry of delight burst from his lips as he beheld the black\nstallion in the lead.\n\n\"It is the horse the settlers call Sable Satan and that belonged to a\nhorse thief, father told me, who was shot from his back one night.\n\n\"Well, if I can catch him I'll be in luck, and I'll try it, though they\nsay he is awful vicious. Be quiet, Gray, or you'll spoil all.\"\n\nOn came the large drove at a trot directly for the river, and a\nbeautiful sight it was as they moved forward in solid mass, with flowing\nmane and tail and the rising sun glancing upon every variety of color.\n\nThe leader was a perfect beauty, black as ink, with glossy hide and long\nmane and tail--the equine king of the herd.\n\nWith his reins well in hand, his lariat ready, and full of excitement,\nBilly waited for the horses to reach the stream, which they entered to\nquench their thirst.\n\nAs every head was lowered and the nostrils driven deep into the cool\nwaters, out of the thicket dashed the Boy Horse-Hunter, and the\nclattering hoofs startled the drove, and in confusion and fright they\nturned to fly.\n\nStraight as an arrow went the boy toward the black stallion, which\nattempted to dash by with the mass.\n\nBut with an unerring hand the lariat was thrown, the coil settled down\nover the haughty head, a tremendous jerk followed, and Sable Satan was\nthrown to the ground.\n\nWith an exultant cry Billy sprung from his saddle, and quickly formed a\n\"bow-stall\"[1] which, when properly made, is more effective than a\nsevere curb bit--and placed it upon the animal that was choked beyond\nthe power of resistance.\n\n[Footnote 1: A \"bow-stall\" is formed by taking a turn with a rope or\nlariat between the nostrils and eyes of a horse, and passing one end\nover the head, back of the ears and tied on the opposite side. A second\nnoose is then made around the jaws and from this the reins lead back\ntoward the rider, who can then thoroughly manage the animal.--THE\nAUTHOR.]\n\nLoosening the lariat around his neck Billy sprung upon the prostrate\nanimal, which, with a wild snort bounded to his feet, and with\nprodigious leaps started on after the flying herd, his daring young\nrider firmly seated upon his back.\n\nFinding he could not unseat Billy by bounding, he came to a sudden halt,\nand then reared wildly; but with catlike tenacity the boy clung to him,\nand then Sable Satan mad with rage and fright, attempted to tear him\nfrom his back with his gleaming teeth.\n\nA severe jerk on the bow-stall however thwarted this, and with a\nmaddened cry the splendid prairie king bounded on once more after the\nflying herd, a call to Little Grey from Billy causing him to follow at\na swift run.\n\nWith a speed that was marvelous Sable Satan flew on, directly into the\ndrove, the daring young rider still clinging to him, determined to dare\nany danger to keep the animal whose capture had baffled the very best\nhorsemen of the plains.\n\nSweeping through the herd, as though they were stationary, so great was\nhis speed, the black stallion soon left them far behind, and glancing\nback Billy saw that Little Grey had not cared to venture into the midst\nof the wild band and was galloping away over the prairies.\n\nNot knowing who might pick him up, and having his rifle, ammunition and\nprovisions strapped to his saddle, he determined to go on after Little\nGrey, and at once a fierce fight began between the boy and his horse.\n\nBut the boy proved the master, and after a severe struggle the black\nstallion was subdued, and guided by the bow-stall was in full chase of\nLittle Grey, while Sable Satan's former subjects were flying away\nnorthward without their leader.\n\nWhen in chase of Little Grey, Billy soon discovered the remarkable speed\nof his new capture, for he overhauled his former pet with ease, and now\nthoroughly broken in, the saddle and bridle were transferred to the\nblack's back, and exultant over his success the boy rode on to the fort,\nwhere large sums were offered him for the famous stallion.\n\nBut Billy refused each tempting offer, and on Sable Satan set out to\ncapture more of the herd, and which he readily succeeded in doing; but\nas the Government offer of ten dollars for the fugitive animals became\nknown, there were a number of men starting on the trail of the wild\nmustangs and though Billy got the lion's share, he did not quite realize\nthe expected fortune, but was content with the few hundreds he made, and\nthe ownership of Sable Satan and Little Grey, the two fastest horses on\nthe Kansas prairies.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nSAVING A FATHER'S LIFE.\n\n\nWhile in Kansas Mr. Cody became interested in the affairs of the State\nand joined the Free State party, and while making a speech on one\noccasion was deliberately attacked and severely wounded.\n\nHe however recovered sufficiently to work on his farm again, but was\nconstantly harassed by his old foes, who on several occasions visited\nhis home with the intention of hanging him.\n\nOn one occasion, when in town, Billy learned of an attack to be made\nupon his father, and mounting Sable Satan rode with all speed out to\nthe farm.\n\nHe was recognized and hotly pursued; but he got home in time to warn his\nfather who took Little Grey and made his escape.\n\nThe horsemen, a score in number, came to the farm, and finding Mr. Cody\ngone, the leader struck Billy a severe blow and when he departed carried\nwith him Sable Satan.\n\nThis almost broke the boy's heart; but he declared he would some day\nregain his horse, and for weeks he tried to do so, but without success.\n\nOne night two horsemen came to the Cody farm and again asked for the\nfarmer, but were told by Mrs. Cody that he was away.\n\nThey would not take her word for it; but thoroughly searched the house,\nafter which they forced Billy's sisters to get them some supper.\n\nWhile they were eating Billy and his father returned, and warned by one\nof the girls, Mr. Cody went up-stairs to bed, for he was quite ill, and\nsuffering from the wound he had received.\n\nBut Billy went into the kitchen and saw there the very man who had\nstruck him the severe blow; and who had taken Sable Satan on his last\nvisit.\n\n\"Well, boy, that's a good horse I got from you,\" he said, with a rude\nlaugh.\n\n\"Yes, he's too good for such a wretch as you are,\" was the fearless\nreply.\n\n\"No lip, boy, or I'll give you a licking you'll remember. By the way,\nwhere's that old father of yours?\" said the man.\n\nBilly made no reply but walked out of the kitchen, to be soon after\nfollowed by his sister Mary who said anxiously:\n\n\"Oh, Will, they say father must have come with you, and they intend to\nsearch the house again.\"\n\n\"Then I'll go up and tell father,\" whispered Billy, and up-stairs he\nwent.\n\nHe found his father asleep, and his mother was seated near him and told\nBilly he had a high fever.\n\n\"Then don't wake him, and I'll not let them come up here,\" said Billy,\nand he went out of the room and took his place at the stairs.\n\nA moment after the two men, both with pistols in their hands, came out\nof the kitchen and started to come up-stairs.\n\n\"Stop, Luke Craig, for you can't come up here,\" said the boy.\n\nWith a hoarse laugh the man sprung up the steps to fall back as a pistol\nflashed in his face and roll back to the bottom, knocking his companion\ndown too.\n\nBut the latter quickly sprung to his feet and dashed out of the house to\nwhere their horses were hitched.\n\nHis horse was a white one, and his comrade's was Sable Satan, and to the\nlatter he ran.\n\nBut up went the window and in a loud voice Billy cried:\n\n\"I've got my rifle on you, and I'll fire if you take my horse.\"\n\nThe man evidently believed that he would, from what he had seen, and\nmounting his own horse dashed swiftly away in the darkness while Billy\nreturned to the one he had shot.\n\nHe found him badly wounded, but not fatally, and putting him in his\nfather's buggy drove him to the nearest doctor, at whose house he\nremained for months before he was well again.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nLOVE AND RIVALRY.\n\n\nFinding that Billy was becoming far more accomplished as a rider and\nshot, than in his books, Mrs. Cody determined to send him to a small\nschool that was only a few miles away.\n\nBilly, though feeling himself quite a man, yielded to his mother's\nwishes and attended the school, which was presided over by a\ncross-grained Dominie that used the birch with right good earnest and\nseeming delight.\n\nOf course Billy's love of mischief got him many a whipping; but for\nthese he did not seem to care until there suddenly appeared in the\nschool another pupil in the shape of a young miss just entering her\nteens.\n\nThe name of this young lady was Mollie Hyatt, and she was the daughter\nof a well-to-do settler who had lately arrived, and was as pretty as a\npicture.\n\nBilly's handsome face and dark eyes won her young heart, and the\nlove-match was going smoothly along until a rival appeared in the field\nin the shape of a youth two years the junior of young Cody, and larger\nand stronger.\n\nThese virtues on the part of Master Steve Gobel, with his growing love\nof Mollie, made him very assuming, and he forced his company upon the\nlittle maid, and had things pretty much his own way, as all the boys\nseemed afraid of him.\n\nAs for Billy he let him have his own way for awhile, and then determined\nnot to stand it any longer he sought Steve Gobel for a settlement of the\naffair, the result of which was, the teacher hearing them quarreling and\ncoming out took the word of young Cody's rival about it, and gave my\nhero a severe whipping before the whole school.\n\nSince his meeting Mollie Hyatt, Billy had been a most exemplary youth,\nnever having had a single whipping, and this cut him to the heart so\ndeeply that he did not seem to feel the pain of the rod.\n\nAnd it made him treasure up revenge against Steve Gobel, who was\nlaughing at him during the castigation.\n\nThe next day Billy built for Mollie a pretty little arbor on the bank of\nthe creek, and all admired it greatly excepting Steve Gobel, who, as\nsoon as it was finished pulled it down.\n\nPoor Mollie began to cry over her loss, and infuriated at beholding her\nsorrow, Billy rushed upon his rival and a fierce fight at once began\nbetween them.\n\nFinding that he was no match for the bully in brute strength, and\nsuffering under his severe blows, Billy drew from his pocket his knife,\nopened the blade with his teeth, and drove it into the side of his foe,\nwho cried out in wild alarm.\n\nSpringing to his feet, amid the frightened cries of the children, Billy\nrushed to his pony, drew up the lariat pin, and springing upon his back,\nrode away across the prairie like the wind.\n\nComing in sight of a wagon-train bound for the West, he rode up to it\nand recognizing the wagon-master as an old friend of his father, he told\nhim what had occurred, and that he feared he had killed Steve Gobel.\n\n\"Served him right, Billy, and we'll just go into camp, take the boys\nalong, and go over and clean out the house o' l'arnin',\" was the blunt\nreply of the wagon-master.\n\nBut this Billy would not bear to, and the wagon-master said:\n\n\"Well, my boy, I'm bound with the train to Fort Kearney, so come along\nwith me, and I'll make a man of you.\"\n\n\"But what will my mother think of me?\"\n\n\"Oh! I'll send a man back with word to her, while you stay, for I won't\ngive you up to that boy's friends.\"\n\nAnd thus it was settled; a man rode back to the Cody farm, and the\nfollowing day he overtook the train again, and Billy's heart was made\nglad by a letter from his mother telling him that Steve Gobel was not\nbadly wounded, but that under the circumstances he had better go on with\nthe wagon-master and remain away until the anger of the Gobel family\ncooled down.\n\nThus, as a Boy Bullwhacker, Billy made his first trip across the plains,\nand months after, upon his return home, found that the Gobels had\nforgiven the past, and that Mary Hyatt had, little coquette that she\nwas, found another beau.\n\nBut shortly after his return his father died, and having to aid in the\nsupport of his mother and sisters, Billy accepted a position as herder\nfor a drove of Government cattle to be driven to the Army of General\nAlbert Sydney Johnson, that was marching against the Mormons at Salt\nLake.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nKILLING HIS FIRST INDIAN.\n\n\nWhen the train and beef-herd, with which Billy Cody had gone, arrived in\nthe vicinity of old Fort Kearney their first serious adventure occurred,\nand for a while the boy thought of his mother's prediction, that he\n\"would be killed or captured by Indians.\"\n\nNot expecting an attack from red-skins in that vicinity, the party had\ncamped for dinner, and most of them were enjoying a _siesta_ under\nthe wagons, Billy being among the latter number, while but three men\nwere on duty as herders.\n\nBut suddenly they were aroused by shots, wild yells, and rapid\nhoof-falls, and down upon them dashed a band of mounted warriors, while\nothers had killed the three guards and the cattle were stampeding in\nevery direction. But the train hands quickly sprung to their feet,\nrallied promptly for the fight, and met the advancing red-skins with a\nvolley from their Mississippi yagers, which were loaded with ball and\nbuck-shot, and checked their advance.\n\nKnowing that they could not hold out there the train-master called out:\n\n\"Boys, make a run for the river, and the banks will protect us.\"\n\nAll started, when Billy called out:\n\n\"Don't let us leave these wounded boys.\"\n\nThey turned at his word, to find that two of their number had been\nwounded, one seriously in the side and the other in the leg.\n\nRaising them in their arms they started at a run for the bank, ere the\nIndians had rallied from the fire that met them, and reached it in\nsafety, though the man who had been shot in the side was dead ere they\ngot there.\n\nA short consultation was then held, and it was decided to make their way\nback to Fort Kearney, by wading in the river and keeping the bank as a\nbreast work.\n\nA raft of poles was constructed for the wounded man, and the party\nstarted down the stream, protected by the bank, and keeping the Indians\nat bay with their guns, for they followed them up closely.\n\nAs night came on, utterly worn out with wading and walking, Billy\ndropped behind the others; but trudged manfully along until he was\nsuddenly startled by a dark object coming down over the bank.\n\nIt was moonlight, and he saw the plumed head and buckskin-clad form of\nan Indian, who, in peering over the bank to reconnoiter had lost his\nbalance, or the earth had given way, and sent him down into the stream.\n\nHe caught sight of Billy as he was sliding down, and gave a wild\nwar-whoop, which was answered by a shot from the boy's rifle, for though\ntaken wholly by surprise he did not lose his presence of mind.\n\nHearing the war-whoop and the shot, and at the same time missing Billy,\nthe men came running back and found him dragging the red-skin along in\nthe stream after him.\n\n\"It's my Injun, boys,\" he cried exultantly.\n\n\"It are fer a fact, an' I'll show yer how ter take his scalp,\" replied\nFrank McCarthy the train-master, and he skillfully cut off the\nscalp-lock and handed it to Billy, adding:\n\n\"Thar, thet is yer first scalp, boy, an' I'm willin' ter swear it won't\nbe yer last, for Billy, you is ther boss boy I ever see.\"\n\nBilly thanked McCarthy for the gory trophy, gave a slight shudder as he\ntook it, and said significantly:\n\n\"I ain't so tired as I was, and I guess I'll keep up with you all now,\nfor if the bank hadn't caved in that Injun would have had me.\"\n\nAt daylight they came in sight of Kearney, and after a volley or two at\nthe Indians still dogging their steps, made for the fort and reached it\nin safety.\n\nThe commanding officer at once sent out a force in pursuit of the\nred-skins; but they neither found them or the cattle they had driven\noff.\n\nAfter a short stay at Fort Kearney Billy returned with a train to\nLeavenworth, where the papers dubbed him the \"Boy Indian-Killer,\" and\nmade a hero of him for his exploit on the South Platte.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\nWINNING A NAME.\n\n\nWhen Billy returned home, after his first Indian-killing expedition, he\ncarried with him the pay of a bullwhacker, and all of it he placed in\nhis mother's hands, for the death of Mr. Cody had left the family in\nindigent circumstances.\n\nFinding that she could not keep Billy at home when he had found out that\nby his exertions, boy though he was, he could support the family, Mrs.\nCody gave a reluctant consent for him to make another trip to the far\nWest under an old and experienced wagon-master named Lew Simpson, and\nwho had taken a great fancy to the youthful Indian-fighter.\n\nBill was accordingly enlisted as an \"extra,\" which meant that he was to\nreceive full pay and be on hand ready to take the place of any one of\nthe train that was killed, wounded, or got sick.\n\nThe wagon train pulled out of Leavenworth, all heavily freighted, each\none carrying about six thousand pounds weight, and each also drawn by\nfour yoke of oxen under charge of a driver, or \"bullwhacker.\"\n\nThe train consisted of twenty-five wagons, under Lew Simpson, then an\nassistant wagon-master, next Billy, the \"extra,\" a night herder, a\ncavallard driver, whose duty was driving the loose and lame cattle, and\nthe bullwhacker for each team.\n\nAll were armed with _yagers_ and Colt's revolvers, and each man had\na horse along, Billy's being Sable Satan, still as good as the day he\ncaptured him, and a piece of equine property all envied the boy the\npossession of; in fact there were several of the men who swore they\nwould yet have the horse.\n\n\"I guess not, pards; the boy caught that horse wild on the prairies, and\nthe man that lays hands on him settles with me.\"\n\nThe speaker was J.B. Hickok, known to the world as \"Wild Bill,\" and upon\nthat trail he and William F. Cody for the first time met.\n\nWild Bill was assistant wagon-master on that trip, and all knew him so\nwell that the idea of possessing Sable Satan by unfair means was at once\ngiven up and Billy felt secure in his treasure, for such the horse was,\nas his equal for speed and bottom had not been found on the plains.\n\nAs an \"extra hand\" Billy had nothing to do while the bullwhackers kept\nin good health, and no Indians were met with, so became the hunter of\nthe train, keeping it well supplied with fresh meats and wild fowl.\n\nIt was upon one of these hunts that Billy won the name of Buffalo Billy,\nthough afterward it was shortened by dropping the _y_ after proving\nhimself the champion buffalo-killer on the plains.\n\nDismounting from Sable Satan to cut up an antelope he had shot, he was\nsuddenly startled by seeing his horse bound away over the prairie.\n\nSpringing to his feet he at once discovered the cause, for over a\ndistant roll of the prairie a herd of thousands of buffaloes were coming\nat terrific speed.\n\nOne chance of escape alone presented itself and that was a lone\ncottonwood tree standing some few hundred yards distant.\n\nIn all the prairie around not another tree was visible, and Billy had\nnoticed this lone sentinel as he was creeping up for a shot at the\nantelope.\n\nAt full speed he rushed for the tree and hastily climbed it, securing a\nsafe seat amid its branches, while yet the herd was some distance away.\n\nBut glancing back over the huge drove to his horse he beheld a band of\nmounted warriors in full chase.\n\nThe center of the herd was headed directly for the tree, and the Indians\nwere so following that they must come directly under it.\n\nIf discovered Billy knew well what his fate would be. The Indians would\ngive up buffalo meat for a human scalp.\n\nThese thoughts flashed through the boy's mind, and he at once decided\nwhat he would do.\n\nTo remain, was certain death at the hands of the red-skins.\n\nTo leave, as he intended, by the means of a buffalo was a fearful risk.\n\nBut he would take it; and accordingly strapped his rifle upon his back,\npicked out his buffalo, a huge bull, and swinging quickly from a limb,\nwatched his chance and dropped down upon the back of his choice.\n\nClutching the long, shaggy mane he clung for dear life, at the same time\nholding himself on with his spurs.\n\nMaddened with fright the bull bounded into the air, snorted wildly,\ngored those in the advance and soon led the herd.\n\nBilly kept his seat nobly, a grim smile upon his face, and occasionally\nglanced backward at the herd and the pursuing Indians.\n\nAnd straight for camp went the herd, until discovered by the train men,\nwho started out in force to head them off.\n\nBut pell-mell into camp they went, stampeding the oxen and horses and\nfrightening the men, and Billy began to feel that he must keep on his\nracer clear to the hills.\n\nBut the animal was tired out now and had dropped to the rear of the\nherd, and Wild Bill, seeing his young friend, raised his rifle and\ndropped the buffalo bull just as he was running out of camp.\n\nFrom that day the boy was known as Buffalo Billy.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\nCAPTURED BY DANITES.\n\n\nWith the usual adventures incident to a trip across the plains, an\noccasional fight with Indians, and several grand hunts, the train at\nlast arrived near Green River in the Rocky Mountains.\n\nBilly, Lew Simpson and another of the train had dropped back during the\nafternoon for a hunt, and upon drawing near the place where they were to\nencamp, were surprised to discover a band of horsemen coming toward\nthem, whom they observed, however, to be white men.\n\nSuspecting no harm from those of their own race, they rode forward, and,\nas they met, were startled to hear:\n\n\"Up with your hands! You are dead men if you resist!\"\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked Lew Simpson, angrily.\n\n\"Joe Smith, the Danite,\" was the calm reply of that leader.\n\n\"If I had known you were that accursed scoundrel I'd have shot you,\"\ngrowled Lew Simpson.\n\n\"Am awful glad you did not know it; but come, you are my prisoners, and\nyour train is in my power,\" was the reply, and upon arriving at camp\nthey found that it was but too true, for the boys had not suspected\ndanger from men they had believed a party of United States cavalry.\n\nThe Danite leader, Joe Smith, then ordered all that could be packed on\nhorses to be taken and the wagons set on fire, and told the train men to\nset out on foot for Fort Bridger, saying:\n\n\"You can reach there, but I guess Albert Sydney Johnson and his troops\nwill never get the supplies.\"\n\nThe train was burned, all but one wagon, which carried supplies for the\nmen, and armed only with their revolvers, they were ordered away by the\nDanites.\n\nBut Buffalo Billy was not one to see his splendid horse go without\nremonstrance, and, as begging did no good, offered to take him upon any\nterms he could get him on.\n\n\"Boy, ain't you the one who killed Hugh Hall in Kansas some time ago?\"\nasked the man who had Billy's horse.\n\n\"I am.\"\n\n\"Well, I owe you one, for he was my pard, and you got me run out of the\ncountry by your work, so I'm willing to be even by keeping your horse.\"\n\n\"I'll fight you for him,\" said Billy, fiercely.\n\n\"What with, boy, fists or knives?\"\n\n\"You are a fool to talk that way, for you weigh double what I do; but\nI'll fight you for the horse with rifle or pistol.\"\n\nThe train men tried to dissuade Billy from this determination, for they\nsaw the Danite was anxious to take him at his word, and to kill him; but\nhe had made the offer and the Mormon urged it on, and the arrangements\nwere made to fight with pistols at fifty paces, walking on each other\nand firing until one fell.\n\nThey at once took their stands and Joe Smith gave the word, saying in a\nlow tone before doing so:\n\n\"He's a boy in years; but he must be got rid of.\"\n\nAt the word the Danite advanced at a rapid walk firing; but Buffalo\nBilly stood still, and waited until he had received four shots, all\ncoming dangerously near, when he suddenly threw his revolver to a level\nand drew trigger.\n\nAt the flash the man fell, shot in the leg, and the duel ended.\n\nBut the Danites would not give up the horse, saying that a wounded man\ncould not continue the fight, and as Billy had not killed his foe, the\nanimal could not be claimed by them.\n\nWild Bill and Lew Simpson roundly cursed Joe Smith and his Danites for a\nset of thieves, while Billy said sadly:\n\n\"Good-by, Sable, old fellow, good-by.\"\n\nAs he spoke he went up to his splendid horse, that stood saddled near,\nand throwing himself upon his back, with a defiant yell, bounded away\nlike an arrow from the bow.\n\nThe Danites opened a perfect fusilade of pistol-shots upon the boy, but\nthey flew harmlessly by him, and a number mounted and gave pursuit in\nhot haste.\n\nBut Sable Satan left them far behind and they gave up the chase, while\nBilly hung about until the train-men came along, and joined them,\nreceiving from one and all the highest praise for his daring escape.\n\nSome days after the disconsolate train-men reached Fort Bridger, to find\nthat other trains than theirs had been robbed by the Danites.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\nA HOT INDIAN FIGHT.\n\n\nAs it was late in the fall Lew Simpson and his men were compelled to\nwinter at the fort, where there were a number of troops and train\nemployees of Russell, Majors and Waddell, who were formed into military\ncompanies, officered by wagon-masters.\n\nAs Wild Bill was placed in command of the battalion of train-men, he\nmade Buffalo Billy an _aide-de camp_ and the boy devoted himself\nassiduously to the duties devolving upon him, and before the long and\ntedious winter passed was forced to experience hardships of the severest\nkind, as the garrison had to live on mule meat, and haul wood from the\ndistant mountains themselves, their animals having been served up as\nfood.\n\nIn the spring Simpson started east with a train, and Buffalo Bill\naccompanied him as hunter for the men, his well known marksmanship and\nskill in securing game readily getting for him that position.\n\nOne day Lew Simpson and an \"extra hand\" accompanied him on one of his\nhunting expeditions, and to their surprise they came upon a band of\nIndians coming out of a canyon not far from them.\n\nThey were out on the prairie, and knowing that they could not escape on\ntheir mules, Simpson and the extra told Billy to ride off on Sable Satan\nand save himself.\n\nBut this the boy would not do, saying that he would remain with them.\n\n\"Then your horse must go with our mules,\" said Simpson.\n\n\"All right, Lew,\" said Billy, though the tears came into his eyes.\n\nTelling them to dismount, just as they came to a buffalo wallow, Lew\nSimpson said:\n\n\"Now, give 'em a shot just back of the ears.\"\n\nThe shots were fired, Billy shutting his eyes as he pulled the trigger,\nand Sable Satan and the two mules dropped dead in their tracks.\n\nIn an instant they were dragged into position, so as to form a\ntriangular fort, and getting into the wallow, with their knives the\nthree threw up the dirt as rapidly as possible to make their position\nsafer.\n\nBy this time the Indians, some half hundred in number, were rushing upon\nthem with wildest yells.\n\nBut crouching down in their little fort of flesh and dirt, Lew Simpson\nand his man and boy comrade leveled their rifles over the bodies of the\nslain animals, and, as the bowling red-skins came within sixty yards,\nfired together.\n\nDown went three Indians, and while Lew Simpson reloaded the yagers Billy\nand George Woods fired with their revolvers with such right good will\nthe Indians were checked in their advance and turned to retreat out of\nrange, followed by three more shots from the yagers.\n\nFive Indians and four ponies were the result of this fight, and it gave\nthe holders of the triangular fort confidence in themselves.\n\nBut the Indians did not give up the attack, but circled around and\naround the fort, firing upon the defenders with their arrows, and\nslightly wounding all three of them, while the bodies of the mules and\nhorse were literally filled with shafts.\n\nAfter a few rides around their pale-face foes, the Indians suddenly\ncharged again, coming from every quarter, and forcing the whites to each\ndefend the space in his front.\n\nWith demoniacal yells they came on once more, and once more the yagers\nopened, and then were thrown aside for the rapidly firing revolvers\nwhich did fearful execution.\n\nGlancing toward Billy Lew Simpson saw that he was perfectly cool and had\na revolver in each hand, although his shirt was saturated with blood\nfrom the arrow wound in his shoulder.\n\nUnable to understand, or stand the hot fire of the revolvers, they again\nbroke, when within twenty yards of the fort and rode off rapidly out of\nrange.\n\n\"You got three that time, Billy,\" cried Lew Simpson gleefully, as he saw\na trio of red-skins scattered along in the front of the boy.\n\nBilly smiled grimly and reloaded his weapons, after which Lew Simpson\ndressed the wounds of his comrades, who returned a like favor for him.\n\nBut the Indians had by no means gone, for they had gone into camp in a\ncircle around their foes, but well out of range of the fearful\nMississippi yagers.\n\nThe three defenders in the mean time improved their opportunity to\nstrengthen their fort with dirt and dig a deeper space within, while\nthey also lunched upon their scanty supply of food.\n\n\"They'll starve us out if they can't take us by charging,\" said Simpson.\n\n\"They can't starve me as long as your mule holds out, Lew, for I won't\neat poor Sable; it would choke me,\" replied Billy.\n\n\"Well, mule meat's good,\" said Woods.\n\n\"Yes, when there ain't anything else to eat, but I prefer buff'ler or\nInjun,\" was Billy's response.\n\n\"We may have to eat Injun yet,\" laughed Lew Simpson.\n\nAll made a wry face at this supposition and again prepared to meet a\ncharge, for the red-skins were coming down in column.\n\nBut again they were checked with loss, and Billy's shot brought down the\nchief.\n\nDarkness coming on, the Indians formed in line as though to ride away,\nwhen Lew Simpson said:\n\n\"They must take us for durned fools not to know that they won't leave\ntheir dead unburied, and that they think they can draw us out. No, here\nis where we live until the boys from the train come to look us up.\"\n\nDuring the night the Indians, finding their foes would not leave their\nfort, set the grass on fire to burn them out.\n\nBut it was too scanty to burn well and only made a smoke, under cover of\nwhich they once more advanced, to be once more driven back.\n\nWith the morning they showed that their intention was to starve them out\nfor they went into a regular camp in a circle upon the prairie.\n\nBut during the afternoon a party of horsemen appeared in sight, and the\nthree hungry, suffering, half-starved defenders gave a yell of delight,\nwhich the red-skins answered with howls of disappointed rage as they\nhastily mounted their ponies and fled.\n\nThe train-men soon came up and were wild in their enthusiasm over the\nbrave defense made, while the fort came in for general praise, although\none and all deeply regretted Sable Satan's sad end, though his death had\nserved a good purpose.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\nBOY TRAPPERS' ADVENTURES.\n\n\nIt was a proud day for Buffalo Billy when he returned home and was\nwelcomed by his mother and sisters, to whom he gave all of his earnings,\nwhich were considerable, as his pay had been liberal.\n\nThe neighborhood, hearing from members of the train of Billy's exploits,\nfor he was very close-mouthed about what he had done, made a hero of\nhim, and many a pretty girl of seventeen regretted that the boy was not\na man grown, to have him for a lover.\n\nBut Billy's restless nature would not allow him to remain idle at home,\nso he joined a party of trappers who were going to trap the streams of\nthe Laramie and Chugwater for otter, beaver and other animals possessing\nvaluable fur, as well as to shoot wolves for their pelts.\n\nThis expedition did not prove very profitable, and not wishing to return\nhome without enough furs to bring a fair sum, Buffalo Billy joined a\nyoung man, only a few years his senior, by the name of Dave Harrington,\nand the two started off for the Republican.\n\nTheir outfit consisted of a wagon and yoke of oxen, for the\ntransportation of their supplies and pelts, and they began trapping in\nthe vicinity of Junction City, Kansas, and went up the Republican to\nPrairie Dog creek, where they found plenty of beaver.\n\nWhile catching a large number of beavers, one day they returned to camp\nto find one of their oxen had fallen over a precipice and killed\nhimself, and they were left without a team.\n\nBut the Boy Trappers, for Dave Harrington was not eighteen, determined\nto trap on through the winter, and in the spring one of them would go\nfor a team to haul back their wagon.\n\nIll fortune seemed however to dog their steps as trappers, for one day,\nwhile chasing elk, Buffalo Billy fell and broke his leg, and Dave\nHarrington had to carry him to camp.\n\nHere was a sad predicament, for the nearest settlement was one hundred\nmiles distant.\n\nBut Dave set the leg as skillfully as he could, built a \"dug-out,\" for\nthe wounded boy to live in, filled it with wood and provisions, and then\nset out to procure a yoke of oxen and sled to return for Billy and their\npelts.\n\nThe \"dug-out,\" was a hole in the side of a bank, covered with poles,\ngrass and sod, and with a fire-place in one end, and a bunk near it, was\nby no means uncomfortable; but the prospect of remaining there for a\nmonth alone, for it would take Harrington that time to go and return\nthrough the deep snow, was by no means a pleasant prospect for a boy\nunder fourteen, and with a broken leg.\n\nDave started the following morning on foot, and Billy was left alone,\nhelpless, and in the solitude of the mountain wilds.\n\nTo throw wood on the fire was a painful effort for him, and to move so\nas to cook his food was torture, and boys of his age can well feel for\nhim in distress and loneliness.\n\nBut Buffalo Billy was made of stern stuff, and knew not what fear was;\nbut who can picture the thoughts that were constantly in his young\nbrain, when the winds were sweeping through the pines at night, the\nwolves were howling about his door, and the sleet and snow was almost\ncontinually falling.\n\nIt were enough to drive a strong man mad, let alone a boy.\n\nBut he stood it bravely, each day however counting with longing heart\nthe hours that went so slowly by, and hoping for his comrade's return.\n\n\"Perhaps he has been frozen to death.\"\n\nThat was his thought one day about Harrington.\n\nThe next it was:\n\n\"I wonder if he has not lost his way?\"\n\nAgain it was:\n\n\"I fear the Indians may have killed him.\"\n\nWhen Dave had been gone about two weeks, Buffalo Billy was startled one\nday from a sound nap, to see an Indian standing by his side.\n\nHe was in full war-paint and feathers, which showed he was on the\nwar-path, and Billy felt that it was all over with him.\n\nSpeaking to him in Sioux, which the boy understood, he asked:\n\n\"What pale-face boy do here?\"\n\n\"My leg is broken.\"\n\n\"What for come here?\"\n\n\"To get furs.\"\n\n\"This red-skin country?\"\n\nThis laconic assertion Billy could not contradict, so he wisely held his\npeace.\n\n\"Let see leg,\" came next.\n\nBilly showed him the bandaged limb, which was broken between the knee\nand ankle.\n\nJust then another Indian entered whom Billy recognized, as having seen\nbefore, and whom he knew to be the great Sioux Chief, Rain-in-the-Face.\n\nBilly called him by name, and he kept back the warriors, who were about\nto end the boy's life then and there.\n\n\"Boy pale-face know chief?\" asked Rain-in-the-Face.\n\n\"Yes, I saw you at Fort Laramie, and gave you a knife,\" said Billy with\nhope in his heart.\n\n\"Ugh! chief don't forget; have knife here,\" and he showed a knife which\nhe had doubtless often used upon the scalps of pale-faces.\n\n\"What pale-face boy do here?\"\n\nBilly told him.\n\n\"Where friend?\"\n\n\"Gone after team.\"\n\n\"When come back?\"\n\nBilly was afraid to tell him the truth, so said:\n\n\"In two moons.\"\n\n\"Long time.\"\n\n\"Yes; but do your young men intend to kill me?\"\n\n\"Me have talk and see.\"\n\nThe Indians then held a council together, and Billy could see that the\nchances were against him; but old Rain-in-the-Face triumphed in the end,\nand said:\n\n\"As pale-face boy is only pappoose, my young men not kill him.\"\n\nBilly had often longed to be a man; but now he was happy that he was a\nboy, and answered:\n\n\"Yes, I am only a little pappoose.\"\n\n\"Him heap bad pappoose, me remember,\" said Rain-in-the-Face, recalling\nsome of the jokes the boy played at Fort Laramie.\n\nThe Indians then unsaddled their ponies and camped at the dug-out for\ntwo days, and when they left they carried with them the sugar and\ncoffee, Billy's rifle and one revolver, and most of the ammunition,\nbesides what cooking utensils they needed.\n\nThen old Rain-in-the-Face bade the boy good-by, and they rode off\nwithout poor Billy's blessing following them.\n\nHardly had they gone before a severe snow-storm sprung up, and it was\nhard indeed for the crippled boy to get wood enough to build a fire, for\nthe red-skins had put it out before leaving.\n\nThe wolves, seemingly understanding how helpless the boy was, scratched\nat the door, and ran over the roof of the dug-out, at the same time\nhowling viciously; but Billy frightened them off with an occasional\nshot, and resigned himself to his lonely fate.\n\nBut at last a month passed away, and with its end appeared brave Dave\nHarrington.\n\nHe had passed through innumerable dangers, but had at last come back in\nsafety, and brought with him an ox-team.\n\nNever in his life had Buffalo Billy felt the joy of that moment, and,\nthough not a boy given to showing his feelings, he burst into tears of\ndelight.\n\nAs it was impossible to at once return, on account of the very great\ndepth of the snow, Dave told Billy they would wait until spring, as he\nhad plenty of provisions, and that fur animals were plenty.\n\nAs soon as the snow began to melt Dave got his traps in, collected his\npelts, which numbered a thousand, and putting them on the wagon, so as\nto serve as a bed for Billy, started his oxen homeward.\n\nAfter twelve days they reached the ranch where Dave had purchased the\noxen, paid in furs for the team, and started on to Junction City.\nArriving there they sold their team, wagon and furs, the latter bringing\nthem about two hundred and fifty dollars, a handsome sum for each when\ndivided, and which made Billy's heart glad to take home with him, for it\npaid off a mortgage on his mother's farm.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\nBUFFALO BILLY STRIKES IT RICH.\n\n\nIt was months before Billy obtained perfect use of his broken leg and\nwas able to throw his crutches aside; but when he did do so it was with\na glad heart, for once more he longed to be upon the plains.\n\nHearing of a rich discovery of gold in Colorado, he joined a party of\nminers that were bound there, and, reaching the mining camps, staked out\na claim and began work.\n\nHe was the youngest person in the mines, in fact the only boy there, and\nwith many he was a great favorite; but there were a few men there who\nsought to impose upon him on account of his youth.\n\nThis treatment Buffalo Billy was not the person to stand, and the result\nwas one of his foes struck him one night without the slightest cause.\n\nThe result was a general row, for Billy's friends at once backed him in\nresenting the blow, and, though the fracas lasted but a few minutes,\nthere were several burials next day as the result.\n\nOf course this made Billy more disliked by those who, without reason,\nhad become his foes, and to add to their dislike, he one day struck a\nrich vein that promised to pan out well in ore.\n\nA few days he toiled in his lead, laying up considerable sums by his\nwork, and one morning, as he went to his mine, he found it occupied by\ntwo rough-looking men whom he did not remember to have ever seen before.\n\n\"Well, pards, I guess you're up the wrong tree,\" he said, pleasantly.\n\n\"I guesses not; this are our lead,\" said one, rudely.\n\n\"How do you make that out?\"\n\n\"We staked it months ago, and was called away, and now we has returned\nto it.\"\n\n\"Well, I believe you both to be lying, and until you prove it's your\nclaim you can't have it,\" was the bold reply.\n\n\"Who's goin' ter say no?\"\n\n\"I am.\"\n\n\"You!\"\n\n\"Yes.\"\n\n\"Who is you?\"\n\n\"I am named William Frederick Cody.\"\n\n\"You has handle enough.\"\n\n\"I have more than that.\"\n\n\"Waal.\"\n\n\"I'm called Buffalo Billy.\"\n\n\"We has heer'd o' you as a chap as has too much cheek fer one so young.\"\n\n\"Then if you know me you will understand that though I am but a boy I\nwon't let you walk away with my claim.\"\n\n\"Get out, boy.\"\n\nBilly obeyed; that is he went down to the camps and consulted his\nfriends about what was best for him to do.\n\n\"We'll go up and call in their chips, Billy,\" was the universal\ndecision.\n\n\"No, let us find out if the claim is theirs,\" said Billy.\n\n\"Find out nothin'; they has no right to it and 'tain't justice.\"\n\nSo up to the mine they went, and Billy's friends recognized the two\nclaimants of the mine as two worthless fellows who had been in the\nvalley months before, but who had no claim upon the boy's property.\n\n\"You must git!\"\n\nThat was the decision; but just then others came up who sided with the\ndesperadoes and things looked very scary for awhile, for half the crowd\nswore that the mine had belonged to the two claimants to it and that\nBilly ought to give it up.\n\nBut these were the men who disliked Billy and his party, as they were\nthe honest miners, and who were willing to side with his foes.\n\n\"Ef ther boy wants ther mine he will hev to fight fer it,\" said one.\n\n\"He will fight for it and so will we!\" cried one of Billy's friends.\n\nAll this time Billy had remained silent; but now he saw that his friends\nwere in deadly earnest, and to prevent a general fight and much loss of\nlife he said:\n\n\"The mine I own legally and I'll fight for it if that will settle it,\nbut I don't want to have to fight both of you.\"\n\n\"Oh, but you must though,\" said one.\n\n\"If I must, I'll do it.\"\n\n\"But you shall not, Billy. These two devils only want to murder you so\nthey can get the mine, and they sha'n't do it.\"\n\nThis was said by Billy's best pard and the others who liked the boy\nbacked him up in his words, and pistols were drawn on both sides and the\nslightest act now all knew would cause trouble.\n\n\"If they'll fight me with revolvers and separately I'll be willing,\"\nsaid Billy, hastily, anxious to avert the trouble.\n\n\"Waal, we'll do that, so sail in,\" said one.\n\n\"No, not this way, you accursed coward, but go off there, stand with\nyour back to the boy, as he will to you, and twenty paces apart, and at\na word wheel and fire,\" cried Billy's friend.\n\nThis seemed fair and all agreed to it, and the man and the boy were\nplaced in position, Billy pale but calm.\n\nThe other side won the word to wheel and fire, and though the man tried\nto aid his friend in giving it, Buffalo Billy was too quick for him and\nfired a second in advance of his adversary.\n\nBut that second was enough, for the bullet went straight to the heart of\nthe one at which it was aimed, while his shot flew wild.\n\nA yell burst from Billy's friends as they rushed forward while his foes\nwere bringing up their other man.\n\nBut just then a stranger rode up, and leveling a pistol at the second\nclaimant for the mine said sternly:\n\n\"Dick Malone, my gallows-bird, I arrest you in the name of the law.\"\n\nThe stranger was a United States detective, and the one he arrested an\nescaped convict.\n\nThis ended the fight for the mine; but after a few days' longer work\nin it Billy found that the vein panned out badly, and selling out his\ninterest in it returned to his home once more, convinced that mining was\nnot his forte, though he certainly had dug out enough of the yellow ore\nto prove to his mother that he had not been idle.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\nTHE YOUNG GUIDE.\n\n\nThe next time that Buffalo Billy left home it was in the capacity of\nassistant guide to a train of emigrants that were going to the far West\nto settle.\n\nIn Leavenworth one night he met in a common assembling room for all\nclasses of men, a man who was Train Boss, or captain, and who was going\nto the West to raise cattle and also to farm.\n\nHis train, consisting of some thirty families, was encamped out of town\nresting and fitting up for the renewal of the march, and he had come\ninto Leavenworth to secure a competent guide, the one who had been\nacting as such having been taken very ill.\n\nHe had just secured the services of a young man who professed to know\nthe country well though he was a stranger in Leavenworth, and fearing an\naccident might deprive him of his services too, the captain was looking\naround for an assistant when he came upon Billy.\n\nHe liked the boy from the first, but feared, on account of his youth,\nthat he might not be competent for the position, until assured by\nseveral teamsters that he was fully so, and consequently he engaged\nBilly at a fair salary.\n\nThe chief guide, who called himself Roy Velvet, Billy had never met,\nuntil the morning the train rolled out of camp on its way westward, and\nfrom the very first he did not like him.\n\nHe was a handsome, but dissipated looking young man, dressed like a\ndandy, was more than thoroughly armed, and rode a superb bay mare.\n\nHe smiled when Captain Luke Denham, the Train Boss, introduced Billy as\nan assistant guide, and said sneeringly:\n\n\"I guess he won't be of much use ten miles away from Leavenworth,\ncaptain.\"\n\nBilly made no reply, but kept up considerable thinking, and set to work\nat his duties.\n\nFor some days the train went on finely, and all felt the new guide knew\nhis business; but then there came some stormy days, it was hard\ntraveling, several times the train had to make a dry camp, and once they\nwere attacked by Indians, until some of the old teamsters felt confident\nthat Roy Velvet had lost the way.\n\nYet on they plodded until at last the nature of the country was such\nthat it was difficult for the train to travel, while, to add to their\ndiscomfort and fears, a large band of Indians were hovering near them.\n\n\"Well, Velvet, where will you find a camping place to-night?\" asked\nCaptain Denham, riding forward and joining the guide.\n\n\"Oh! I'll find a good place, and only a short distance ahead; after that\nthe country will be all right for traveling,\" was the quiet answer.\n\n\"I don't believe it, for it has not that look.\"\n\n\"Then ask the assistant guide,\" was the stern reply.\n\n\"I would, but he is not with the train, and has not been seen since last\nnight.\"\n\n\"Perhaps he got out of sight of the train and couldn't find his way\nback,\" sneered the guide.\n\n\"Oh no! that boy knows what he is about, and I'll trust him for it.\"\n\n\"Well, yonder is the camp,\" and Roy Velvet pointed to a little meadow\nnot far distant, through which ran a deep stream, and beyond and\novershadowing it, was a range of bold hills.\n\n\"It's a pleasant spot indeed, and I guess we'll halt a day or two,\" said\nthe captain, and he gave orders for the train to encamp.\n\nBut suddenly up dashed Billy Cody, mounted upon a large horse no one had\never seen him ride before, and it was evident that he had been riding\nhard.\n\n\"Captain Denham, don't camp there, sir, for you place yourself at the\nmercy of the renegades and Indians that are dogging your trail,\" he said\nhastily.\n\n\"I am the guide, boy, and have selected the camp,\" sternly answered Roy\nVelvet.\n\n\"And you are my prisoner, Roy Velvet,\" and quicker than a flash the\nrevolver of Buffalo Billy covered his heart.\n\nRoy Velvet turned very pale, but said:\n\n\"Are you mad, boy?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Billy, what is the matter?\" asked Captain Denham, while the teamsters\nand settlers gathered quickly around.\n\n\"Tie that man and I will tell you.\"\n\n\"But, Billy--\"\n\n\"Tie him, captain, or I shall shoot him, for I know who and what he is,\"\ncried Billy, and his manner, his charge against the chief guide, his\nmysterious absence from the train for eighteen hours, and his return\nupon a strange horse, proved to all that he did know something\ndetrimental to Roy Velvet.\n\n\"Speak, Billy, and if you know aught against this man, tell us,\" said\nthe captain.\n\n\"Disarm him then for he is a tricky devil.\"\n\n\"Captain Denham, will you permit that boy to cover me with his revolver\nand hurl insult upon me?\" cried the guide.\n\n\"As you will not do as I ask I will do it myself,\" and Billy rode up to\nthe guide, still holding his cocked revolver upon him, and deliberately\ntook from his belt his revolvers and knife.\n\n\"You are so sly, so soft in your cunning, Velvet, that I'll be on the\nsafe side,\" said Billy with a smile, as he felt over the man for another\nweapon.\n\n\"Ah! I'll take this Derringer from your breast pocket,\" and out he drew\nthe concealed weapon.\n\n\"Now, captain, I'll introduce to you Red Reid, the Renegade Chief.\"\n\nAll were astonished at this charge made by Billy against the guide, for\nRed Reid was one of the vilest road-agents that infested the overland\ntrails to the West, and had robbed and murdered many a train of\nemigrants, and of Government supplies.\n\nHe was known also to be in league with the red-skins, and had them for\nallies, when his own force of renegades was not large enough to make a\nsuccessful attack.\n\n\"He lies! I am not that monster,\" shouted the guide as white as a\ncorpse.\n\n\"I do not lie, sir; from the first I did not like you, and knowing that\nyou were going off the regular trail west I watched you.\n\n\"I have seen you, at night, slip out of camp and meet Indians, and last\nnight I followed the one you met.\n\n\"I overtook him on the prairies, after a hard chase, and he shot my\nhorse; but I shot him and found he was a white man in Indian disguise,\nand more, before he died he recognized me, for he was once my father's\nfriend, but went to the bad.\n\n\"He told me who and what you were, and when he died to-day I mounted his\nhorse and came on after the train, for I knew you were going to lead\nthem here to attack this very night with your band that is not far\naway.\"\n\nThe story of Billy made a deep impression upon the train people, and\nthe result was that Roy Velvet was seized, bound, and hanged to a tree\nwithin fifteen minutes, and the boy who had saved them from death was\nmade chief guide.\n\nAt once he led them out of the dangerous locality where they could be\nambushed and attacked, and the truth of the charge against Roy Velvet\nwas sustained by the attack of the supposed Indians upon their camp;\nfor, when driven off and the dead examined, a number of white men were\nfound in the red paint and dress of Indian warriors.\n\nWithout difficulty Buffalo Billy led the train on to its destination,\nproving himself thereby a perfect guide, and after a short stop in the\nnew settlement, he returned with a Government train bound East, and\nagain was warmly welcomed \"home again.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\nTHE PONY EXPRESS RIDER.\n\n\nOne day when he had ridden into Leavenworth Buffalo Billy met his old\nfriend, Wild Bill, who was fitting out a train with supplies for the\nOverland Stage Company, and he was at once persuaded to join him in the\ntrip West going as assistant wagon-master.\n\nPutting a man on his mother's farm to take care of it, for as a farmer\nBilly was not a success, he bade his mother and sisters farewell and\nonce more was on his way toward the land of the setting sun.\n\nHaving been at home for several months, for his mother not being in the\nenjoyment of good health he hated to leave her, Billy had been attending\nschool, and had been a hard student, while in the eyes of his fellow\npupils, girls and boys alike, he was a hero of heroes.\n\nOn his trip West with Wild Bill he had carried his books, and often in\ncamp he had whiled away the time in studying, until he was asked if he\nwas reading for a lawyer or a preacher.\n\nBut when well away from civilization his books were cast aside for his\nrifle, and he was constantly in the saddle supplying the train with\ngame.\n\nWithout any particular adventures the train arrived in due season at\nAtchison, and there so much was said about Pony Riding on the Overland\nthat Buffalo Billy decided to volunteer as a rider.\n\nResigning his position with the train, Mr. Russell gave him a warm\nletter to Alf Slade, a noted personage on the frontier, and to him Billy\nwent.\n\nSlade was then stage agent for the Julesberg and Rocky Ridge Division,\nwith his head-quarters at Horseshoe, nearly forty miles west of Fort\nLaramie, and there Billy found him and presented his letter.\n\nSlade read the letter, looked Billy carefully over, and said:\n\n\"I would like to oblige you, my boy, but you are too young, the work\nkills strong men in a short time.\"\n\n\"Give me a trial, sir, please, for I think I can pull through,\" said\nBilly.\n\n\"But are you used to hard riding and a life of danger?\"\n\n\"Yes, sir, I've seen hard work, young as I am.\"\n\n\"I see now that Russell says you are Buffalo Billy,\" and Slade glanced\nagain at the letter.\n\n\"Yes, sir, that's what my pards call me.\"\n\n\"I have heard of you, and you can become a pony rider; if you break down\nyou can give it up.\"\n\nThe very next day Billy was set to work on the trail from Red Buttes on\nthe North Platte, to Three Crossings on the Sweet Water, a distance of\nseventy-six miles.\n\nIt was a very long piece of road, but Billy did not weaken, and ere long\nbecame known as the Boss Pony Rider.\n\nOne day he arrived at the end of his road to find that the rider who\nshould have gone out on the trip with his mail, had been killed in a\nfight, so he at once volunteered for the run to Rocky Ridge, a distance\nof eighty-five miles, and arrived at the station even ahead of time.\n\nWithout rest he turned back and reached Red Buttes on time, making the\nextraordinary run of _three hundred and twenty-two_ miles without\nrest, and at an average speed of fifteen miles an hour.\n\nThis remarkable feat won for him a presentation of a purse of gold from\nthe company, and a fame for pluck and endurance that placed him as the\nchief of the Pony Riders.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\nA RIDE FOR LIFE.\n\n\nOne day, after Buffalo Billy had been a few months Pony Riding, a party\nof Indians ambushed him near Horse Creek.\n\nHe however, as did his horse, miraculously escaped their foes, dashed\nthrough them and went on like the wind.\n\nBut the red-skins gave hot chase, firing as they ran, yet still without\neffect.\n\nBilly was well mounted and had not felt fear of them until he saw two of\nthe Indians rapidly drawing ahead of the other, and gaining upon him.\n\nHe urged his horse on at full speed with lash and spur, but still the\nred-skins gained.\n\nThen he saw that they too were splendidly mounted, not on ponies, but\nlarge American horses which they had doubtlessly captured from the\ncavalry.\n\nNearer and nearer came the Indians, and on Billy pressed at full speed.\n\nThrowing a glance over his shoulder he saw that one of the red-skins,\nwhose feathers proved him to be a chief, was gaining on his comrade, and\nyet seemed not to be urging the large roan he rode.\n\n\"I want that horse, and I want that Injun,\" muttered Billy, and he\nquietly took his revolver from his belt.\n\nNearer and nearer came the chief, and Billy felt his own horse wavering,\nand knew he was forced beyond his powers of endurance, and fearing he\nmight fall with him, determined to act at once.\n\nDragging the animal he rode to a sudden halt, and reining him back upon\nhis haunches, he suddenly wheeled in his saddle and fired.\n\nThe Indian saw his sudden and unexpected movement, and was taken so\nwholly off his guard that he had no time to fire, and ere he could raise\nhis pistol, a bullet went crashing through his brain.\n\nHe fell back on his horse, that dashed straight on, and was then thrown\nto the ground, while the rein of the animal was seized by Billy with a\nforce that checked his mad flight.\n\nIt was an easy thing for the Pony Rider to spring upon the back of the\nroan and get away; but he would not give up his own saddle and the mail\nbags which were attached to it, and, dismounting, he was hastily making\nthe transfer from his own to the red skin's horse when up dashed the\nsecond Indian, and firing as he came, sent a bullet through the cap of\nthe youth, knocking it from his head.\n\nThe two horses he held began to both pull back in alarm, and for an\ninstant things looked very dismal for the brave Pony Rider; but a second\nshot from the warrior missed the boy and killed his horse, and this\nrelieved him of that trouble, and instantly he drew his revolver and\nfired.\n\nDown from his horse fell the red skin, but only wounded, and as he still\nclutched his pistol, Billy was forced to give him another shot, which\nquieted him forever, just as the band of Indians came in sight.\n\nBut the presence of mind for which he was noted did not desert the Pony\nRider, and he quickly cut loose his saddle from his dead horse, sprung\nwith it in his hand upon the back of the roan and dashed away once more\njust as the shots of his foes began to patter around him.\n\nThe Indians, however, kept the chase up, and Billy dashed up to the\nstation to find that the stock-tender lay dead and scalped in front of\nhis cabin and the stock had been driven off.\n\nBut without an instant's delay the Pony Rider urged the splendid roan he\nhad captured on once more and arrived in safety at Plontz Station\n_ahead of time_, and made known what had happened back on the\noverland trail, and added new laurels to his name.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\nTHE BOY STAGE DRIVER OF THE OVERLAND.\n\n\nAfter six months longer of Pony Riding over the dangerous trail of\nseventy-six miles, ridden by day and night in all kinds of weather,\nBuffalo Billy met with an adventure that was the cause of his again\nfinding another occupation.\n\nThe Indians had become very troublesome as fall came on and a number of\npony riders had been killed and stations burned along the route until\nthere were few who cared to take the risks.\n\nThe stage coaches also were often attacked, and on one occasion the\ndriver and two passengers were killed and several others were wounded.\n\nBut Billy did not flinch from his long, lonely and desperate rides, and\nseemed to even take pleasure in taking the fearful chances against death\nwhich he was forced to do on every ride out and in.\n\nOne day as he sped along like the wind he saw ahead of him the stage\ncoach going at full speed and no one on the box.\n\nAt once he knew there was trouble, and as he drew nearer he discovered\nsome Indians dash out of a ravine and give chase.\n\nAs he heard the clatter of hoofs behind him he looked around and saw a\ndozen red-skins coming in pursuit, and felt confident that he must have\ndashed by an ambush they were preparing for him, by suddenly changing\nhis course and riding _around_ instead of _through_ a canyon.\n\nThe stage coach was now in the open prairie, and dashing along the trail\nas fast as the horses could go, while the Indians in close pursuit\nnumbered but three.\n\nBilly was well mounted upon a sorrel mare, and urging her with the spur\nhe soon came in range of the red-skin furthest in the rear and hastily\nfired.\n\nDown went the pony, and the Indian was thrown with such violence that he\nwas evidently stunned, as he lay where he had fallen.\n\nAnother shot wounded one of the remaining Indians, and they hastily sped\naway to the right oblique in flight, while Billy dashed on to the side\nof the coach.\n\nThere were five passengers within, and two of them were women, and all\nwere terribly frightened, though evidently not knowing that their driver\nlay dead upon the box, the reins still grasped in his nerveless hands.\n\nRiding near, Billy seized his mail bags and dextrously got from his\nsaddle to the stage, and the next instant he held the reins in his firm\ngripe.\n\nHe knew well that Ted Remus, the driver, had carried out a box of gold,\nand was determined to save it for the company if in his power.\n\nHis horse, relieved of his weight and trained to run the trail, kept\nright on ahead, and he, skillfully handling the reins, for he was a fine\ndriver, drove on at the topmost speed of the six animals drawing the\ncoach.\n\nBehind him came the Indians, steadily gaining; but Billy plied the silk\nin a style that made his team fairly fly, and they soon reached the\nhills.\n\nHere the red-skins again gained, for the road was not good and in many\nplaces very dangerous.\n\nBut once over the ridge, and just as the Indians were near enough to\nfill the back of the coach with arrows, Billy made his team jump ahead\nonce more, and at breakneck speed they rushed down the steep road, the\nvehicle swaying wildly, and the passengers within not knowing whether\nthey would be dashed to pieces, or scalped by the Indians, or which\ndeath would be the most to be desired.\n\nBut Billy, in spite of his lightning driving, managed his team well, and\nafter a fierce run of half an hour rolled up to the door of the station\nin a style that made the agent and the lookers on stare.\n\nBut he saved the box and the lives of the passengers, and several days\nafter was transferred from the Pony Rider line to stage driving on the\nOverland, a position he seemed to like.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\nA CLEVER DISGUISE.\n\n\nWhile riding Pony Express the road on Buffalo Billy's run became\ninfested with road-agents, who were wont to halt every rider they could\ncatch, and also rob the stages.\n\nThe chief of these outlaws was noted as a man of gallantry, for he never\nrobbed a woman, no matter what the value of her personal effects might\nbe.\n\nLadies with valuable diamonds in their ears, and rings that were worth a\nsmall fortune, were always spared by this man, who became known by his\nforbearance to the fair sex as the \"Cavalier.\"\n\nPoor men were also exempt from being robbed by the Cavalier; that is if\nhe really thought a man was poor and not \"playing possum,\" to get off\nfrom paying the toll demanded.\n\nIn halting a stage the driver was never robbed, but Government and the\nCompany's moneys were always taken, and well-to-do travelers had to pay\nliberally.\n\nPony Express Riders were never robbed of their pocket money, but the\nmail was invariably searched for money.\n\nOnce only had Buffalo Billy been halted by the Cavalier, though the\nother riders had frequently been brought to a halt and made to pony up.\n\nThat once Billy had shown fight, had tried to run by, and his horse had\nbeen shot; but he slightly wounded the Cavalier in the arm, and for it\nhe was told if he ever attempted resistance again he would be promptly\nkilled.\n\nThis did not trouble the young Rider in the least, but he made up his\nmind that he would not be caught; and after that the road-agents found\nit impossible to bring him to a halt, and his mails always went through\nin perfect safety.\n\nAt last it became rumored that Buffalo Billy had been removed to another\npart of the road, and that as no riders could be found to take his long\nnight rides, a daughter of one of the stock-tenders had volunteered for\nit, and the company, knowing her ability as a rider, accepted her\nservices until another could be found.\n\nThe first night on the run she arrived at the other end on time, though\nshe reported that she had been halted by the Cavalier and four of his\nmen.\n\nThe road-agent seemed greatly surprised that a woman, in fact a young\nand very pretty girl, should be riding the road, but she made known the\ncircumstances, and he told her she should always go through unmolested\nby him and his men.\n\nBut he made the mails, carried by the other riders, and the stage-coach\npassengers, suffer for his leniency to the Girl Rider, and the\nGovernment and both the express and stage companies offered a large\nreward for the capture of himself and men alive.\n\nThis seemed to do no good, although a number of attempts were made to\ncapture him, which signally failed, and the reward was increased and\nadded \"dead or alive.\"\n\nAll this time the Girl Rider often met the Cavalier in her rides, and\nwhen the moonlight nights came on, he would often, as she was flying\nalong, dash out from some thicket, and ride with her ten or fifteen\nmiles.\n\nThe more he saw of her the more he seemed to admire her, and his times\nof joining her increased, and he seemed to so enjoy his rides with her,\nthat he would, when she went into a station to change horses, make a\ncircuit around it, and joining her beyond, continue on for another dozen\nmiles, for he rode a fleet steed, and one of great bottom.\n\nOne night as they thus sped along he told the Girl Pony Rider that he\nhad learned to love her, tho' he had never seen her face in the\ndaylight, and that he had accumulated a large sum, for he had a treasure\nhiding-place in the mountains, and, if she only would love him in return\nand fly with him, he would be the happiest of men, and give up his evil\nlife.\n\nThe maiden promised to think of it, said it was so sudden and\nunexpected, that she had never loved before, and did not even then know\nher own heart, and with this she dashed on her way like the wind.\n\nThe next night the Cavalier again met her, and again renewed his vows of\nlove, and she told him she had thought of it, and would stand by him\nuntil death parted them.\n\nThe Cavalier went into ecstasies over this, and an evening was appointed\nwhen they should leave the country together, which was a night on which\nthe Girl Rider knew she was to carry quite a sum of money in huge bills\nto the paymaster of the company at the other end of the line.\n\nThe night in question came round, and the cavalier road-agent, as he had\npromised, had relays of fresh horses every twenty miles until they\nshould have gone two hundred, which would put them beyond pursuit; in\nfact the company would not discover for twenty-four hours just what had\nhappened, the outlaw and maiden both believed, so considered themselves\nsafe.\n\nAt the hour he had agreed to meet the maiden, the Cavalier was on hand\nat the timber, mounted on his finest horse, dressed in his best, and\ncarrying a couple of large saddle-bags loaded with treasure, consisting\nof his lion's share of the robberies, and which included watches,\njewelry, gold, silver and paper money.\n\nThe maiden asked him to dismount and arrange her saddle-girths, and as\nhe was stooping, she threw down the rein of his horse which she was\nholding, and to which she had attached something, and away he started in\na run, for the violent motion had frightened him; but he soon came to a\nhalt.\n\nRising to his feet the Cavalier suddenly felt the cold muzzle of a\nrevolver pressed against his head, and heard the words:\n\n\"You are my prisoner; resist and I will kill you; up with your arms!\"\n\nHe tried to laugh it off as a joke, but she was in deadly earnest, and\nhe soon found it out.\n\nLeaning over she took the weapons of the road-agent from his belt, and\ntold him to move on ahead.\n\nHe could but obey, for he knew she would kill him if he did not.\n\nA mile up the trail and the stock-tender's station came in sight, and in\nthe moonlight they both saw a crowd of men awaiting them there.\n\nOnce more the Cavalier begged for his release; but she was determined,\nand marched him straight up to the crowd.\n\n\"Well, Billy, you've got him,\" cried a voice as they approached.\n\n\"I most certainly have, and if you'll look after him I'll go and fetch\nhis horse, for I've got a hook fastened to his rein and he can't go\nfar.\"\n\n\"Billy!\" cried the road-agent.\n\n\"Yes, I am Buffalo Billy, and I assumed this disguise to catch you and\nI've done it.\n\n\"Do you love me now, pard?\"\n\nThe road-agent foamed and swore; but it was no use; he had been caught,\nwas taken to the town, tried, found guilty of murdering and robbing and\nended his life on the gallows, and Buffalo Billy got the reward for his\ncapture, and a medal from the company, and he certainly deserved all\nthat he received for his daring exploit in the guise of a young girl,\nand a pretty one too, the boys said he made, for he had no mustache\nthen, his complexion was perfect, though bronzed, and his waist was as\nsmall as a woman's, while in the saddle his height did not show.\n\nAs to the Cavalier, Billy said he deserved his name, and certainly\ntalked love like an adept at the art, and his lovemaking, like many\nanother man's, led him to ruin and death.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX.\n\nTHE DESPERADOES' DEN.\n\n\nShortly after this adventure of the rescue of the stage coach, the\nIndians became so bad along the line that the Pony Express and stages\nhad to be stopped for awhile on account of the large number of horses\nrun off.\n\nThis caused a number of the employees of the Overland to be idle, and\nthey at once formed a company to go in search of the missing stock, and\nalso to punish the red-skins.\n\nOf this company Wild Bill, who had been driving stage, was elected the\ncommander, and, as they were all a brave set of men, it was expected\nthey would render a good account of themselves.\n\nOf course Buffalo Billy went along, by years the youngest of the party,\nbut second to none for courage and skill in prairie craft.\n\nThey first struck the Indians in force on the Overland trail, and\ndefeating them with heavy loss, pursued them to the Powder River, and\nthen down that stream to the vicinity of where old Fort Reno now stands.\n\nPushing them hard the whites had several engagements with them, and each\none of the company performed some deed of valor, but none were more\nconspicuous for daring deeds than was Buffalo Billy.\n\nPermitting them no rest the whites drove the Indians into their village,\nand although they were outnumbered four to one, captured all of the\ncompany's stock as well as the ponies of the red-skins.\n\nHaving been so successful Wild Bill gave the order to return, and the\nIndians had been too badly worsted to follow, and they reached\nSweetwater Bridge in safety, and without the loss of an animal they had\nretaken or captured.\n\nThe stages and Pony Express at once began to run again on time, and\nBuffalo Billy was transferred to another part of the line, to drive\nthrough a mountainous district.\n\nBut anxious to return home, after his long absence, he resigned his\nposition, determined to take advantage of a train going east, and in\nwhich he could get a position as assistant baggage-master on the\nhomeward-bound trip, which would pay him for a couple of months'\nservice, thereby giving him a larger sum to carry to his family.\n\nAs it would be several days before the train started, Buffalo Billy\ndetermined to enjoy a bear-hunt, and mounting his favorite horse, the\nroan he had captured from the Indian chief, he set out for the\nfoot-hills of Laramie Peak.\n\nAfter a day of pleasure, in which he had shot considerable game, such as\ndeer, antelope and sage hens, but not a bear, he camped for the night in\na pretty nook upon one of the mountain streams.\n\nHardly had he fastened his roan and begun to build a fire, by which to\ncook his supper, when he was startled by the neigh of a horse up in the\nmountains.\n\nInstantly he sprung to his horse, and, by his hand over his nostrils,\nprevented him from giving an answering whinny, while he stood in silence\nlistening, for he knew that he might rather expect to see a foe there\nthan a friend.\n\nAs the neigh was once more repeated, Buffalo Billy resaddled his horse,\nhitched him so that he could be easily unfastened, and, with his rifle\nstarted cautiously on foot up the stream.\n\nHe had not gone far when in a little glen he beheld nearly half a\nhundred horses grazing and lariated out.\n\nThis was a surprise to him, and he was most cautious indeed, for he was\nconvinced that they belonged to some prowling band of Indians.\n\nPresently, up the mountain further, he caught sight of a sudden light,\nand his keen eye detected that a man's form had momentarily appeared and\nthen all was darkness once more.\n\nOn he went in the direction of the light, going as noiselessly as a\npanther creeping upon its prey, until presently he dimly discovered the\noutline of a small cabin, built back against the precipitous side of an\noverhanging hill.\n\nHearing voices, and recognizing that they were white men, he stepped\nboldly forward and knocked at the door.\n\nInstantly there followed a dead silence within, and again he knocked.\n\n\"Who is there?\" asked a gruff voice.\n\n\"A pard.\"\n\n\"Come in, pard.\"\n\nBilly obeyed.\n\nBut instantly he regretted it, for his eyes fell upon a dozen\nvillainous-looking fellows, several of whom he recognized as having seen\nloafing at the Overland stations, and who were considered all that was\nbad.\n\n\"Who are you?\" asked one who appeared to be the leader.\n\n\"I am Bill Cody, a stage driver on the Overland, and I came up here on a\nbear-hunt.\"\n\n\"You're a healthy looking stage driver, you are, when you are nothing\nmore than a boy.\"\n\n\"Yes, Bob, he tells ther truth, fer I hes seen him handle ther ribbons,\nand he does it prime too; he are the Pony Rider who they calls Buff'ler\nBilly,\" said another of the gang.\n\n\"Ther devil yer say: waal, I has heerd o' him as a greased terror, an'\nhe looks it; but who's with yer, young pard?\"\n\n\"I am alone.\"\n\n\"It hain't likely.\"\n\n\"But I am.\"\n\n\"Yer must be durned fond o' b'ar-meat ter come up here alone.\"\n\n\"I am.\"\n\n\"Waal, did yer get yer b'ar?\"\n\n\"No.\"\n\n\"Whar's yer critter?\"\n\n\"My horse is down the mountain.\"\n\n\"I'll go arter him,\" said one suspiciously; but Billy answered quickly:\n\n\"Oh, no, I'll not trouble you; but if I can leave my rifle here, I'll go\nafter him.\"\n\n\"All right, pard; but I guesses two of us better go with yer fer\ncomp'ny, as we loves ter be sociable.\"\n\nBuffalo Billy well knew now that he was in a nest of horse-thieves and\ndesperadoes; but he dared not show his suspicions, as he felt assured\nthey would kill him without the slightest compunction.\n\nSo he said pleasantly:\n\n\"Well, come along, for it is pleasanter to have company, and I'll stay\nwith you to-night if you'll let me.\"\n\n\"Oh, yes, we'll let yer stay, fer we is awful social in our notions.\nHere Ben, you and Tabor go with my young pard and bring his horse up to\nthe corral.\"\n\nThe two assigned for this duty were the very worst looking of the band,\nas far as villainous faces went; but Buffalo Billy's quick brain had\nalready formed a plan of escape, and he was determined to carry it out.\n\nDown the hill they went until they came to the horse, and both eyed his\nfine points, as dimly seen in the darkness, with considerable pleasure,\nwhile one muttered:\n\n\"The Cap will be sure to fancy him.\"\n\n\"There is a string of game that might come in well for supper,\" said\nBilly, as he pointed to a dark object on the ground.\n\n\"They will, fer sure,\" was the eager answer, and the man stooped to pick\nup the game when Billy suddenly dealt him a blow that felled him to the\nearth.\n\nAt the same time he wheeled upon the other, who already had his hand\nupon his revolver, and before he could fire, his own finger touched the\ntrigger, and the desperado fell.\n\nBounding into his saddle he turned his horse down the mountain side,\njust as the door of the cabin was thrown open and he saw the band\nstreaming out from their den, alarmed by the shot.\n\nIn hot pursuit they rushed down the mountain side, and for a short while\ngained upon Billy, for he dared not urge his horse rapidly down the\nsteep hillside.\n\nBut once in the valley and the roan bounded forward at a swift pace, and\nnot a moment too soon, for the revolver shots began to rattle, and the\nbullets to fly uncomfortably near.\n\nOn, at a swift gait the roan went, and though Billy heard the clatter of\nhoofs in chase, he had no fear, as he well knew the speed of the animal\nhe rode.\n\nAfter a few miles' pursuit the desperadoes gave up the chase and\nreturned toward the mountains, while Buffalo Billy urged the roan on,\nand a couple of hours before dawn he reached the station, roused the\nmen, and in fifteen minutes two score horsemen were on the way to the\nmountains, led by the boy, though Alf Slade himself went in command of\nthe company.\n\nBut though they found the dug-out, and the grave of the man Billy had\nkilled, the birds had flown, leaving one of their number in his last\nresting place to mark the visit of the youth to the desperadoes' den.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX.\n\nA MAD RIDE.\n\n\nBack to his home in Kansas went Buffalo Billy, to cheer the heart of his\nmother and sisters by his presence, and win their admiration by his\nrapid growth into a handsome manly youth.\n\nTo please those who so dearly loved him he again attended school for a\ncouple of months; but with the first wagon-train bound west he went as\nhunter, and arriving in the vicinity of the Overland again sought\nservice as a stage-driver, and was gladly accepted and welcomed back.\n\nHe had been driving but a short time after his return, when he carried\neast on one trip a coach load of English tourists, whose baggage loaded\ndown the stage.\n\nAlthough he was driving at the average regulation speed, to make time at\neach station, the Englishmen were growling all the time at the slow pace\nthey were going and urging Billy to push ahead.\n\nBilly said nothing, other than that he was driving according to orders,\nand which was, by the way, by no means a slow gait, and then listened to\ntheir growling in silence, while they were anathematizing everything in\nAmerica, as is often the case with foreigners who come to this country.\n\nBilly heard their remarks about the \"bloody 'eathen in Hamerica,\" \"the\ngreatness of hall things hin Hingland,\" \"slow horses,\" \"bad drivers,\"\nand all such talk, and drove calmly on into Horsehoe.\n\nThere the horses were changed, and the six hitched to the coach were\nwild Pony Express animals that had been only partially broken in as a\nstage team, which Billy delighted in driving.\n\nAs they were being hitched up Buffalo Billy smiled grimly, and said:\n\n\"I'll show those gents that we know how to drive in this country,\" and\nthose who knew him could see the twinkle of deviltry in his eyes.\n\nAt last, the Englishmen, having dined, took their seats, Billy gave the\norder to let the animals go, and they started off at a rapid pace.\n\nBut Billy reined them down until they reached the top of the hill, and\nthen, with a wild yell, that suddenly silenced the grumbling of the\nEnglishmen, he let the six horses bound forward, while with utter\nrecklessness he threw the reins upon their backs.\n\nFrightened, maddened by the lash he laid upon them, they went down the\nmountain at a terrific speed, the coach swaying wildly to and fro, and\nthe Englishmen nearly frightened out of their wits.\n\nGlancing out of the windows and up at Billy they called to him to stop\nfor the sake of Heaven.\n\nBut he only laughed, and tearing the large lamps from the coach threw\nthem at the leaders, the blows, and the jingling of glass frightening\nthem fearfully.\n\n\"For God's sake stop, driver!\"\n\n\"He is mad!\"\n\n\"We'll all be killed!\"\n\n\"Stop! stop!\"\n\nSuch was the chorus of cries that came from the coach, and in reply was\nheard the calm response:\n\n\"Don't get excited, gents; but sit still and see how we stage it in the\nRocky Mountains.\"\n\nThen, to add still greater terror to the flying team and the frightened\npassengers, Billy drew his revolver from his belt and began to fire it\nin the air.\n\nAs the station came in sight, the man on duty saw the mad speed of the\nhorses and threw open the stable doors, and in they dashed dragging the\nstage after them, and tearing off the top, but not hurting Billy, who\nhad crouched down low in the boot.\n\nThe passengers were not so lucky, however, for the sudden shook of halt\nsent them forward, in a heap and the arm of one of them was broken,\nwhile the others were more or less bruised.\n\nA canvas top was tacked on, the coach was run out, and a fresh team\nhitched up, and Billy sung out:\n\n\"All aboard, gents!\"\n\nBut he went on with an empty coach, for the Englishmen preferred to wait\nover for another driver, and one of them was heard to remark that he\nwould rather go in a hearse than in a stage with such a madman holding\nthe reins.\n\nBut far and wide Billy's mad ride was laughed at, and he received no\nreprimand from the company, though he richly deserved it.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI.\n\nWINNING A REWARD.\n\n\nDriving over the trail through the Rocky Mountains, the drivers were\nconstantly annoyed by road-agents, whose daring robberies made it most\ndangerous for a coach to pass over the line.\n\nIf the driver did not obey their stern command: \"Halt! up with your\nhands!\" he was certain to be killed, and the passenger within who\noffered the slightest resistance to being robbed, was sure to have his\nlife end just there.\n\nSo dangerous had it become to drive the mountain passes, as several\ndrivers had been shot, the company found it difficult to get men to\ncarry the stages through, and offered double wages to any one who had\nthe courage to drive over the road-agents dominions.\n\nBuffalo Billy at once volunteered for the perilous work, and his first\ntrip through he met with no resistance.\n\nThe next he was halted, and promptly obeying the order to throw up his\nhands, he was not molested, though the gold-box was taken from the\ncoach, and all the passengers were robbed.\n\nAfter this it was almost a daily occurrence for the road-agents to rob a\nstage-coach, and the Overland Company offered a reward of five thousand\ndollars for the capture of their chief and the band.\n\nOne day Billy drove away from the station with a coach full of women,\nnot a single man having the pluck to go, and promptly, at their favorite\nplace, the road-agents appeared.\n\n\"Halt! up with your hands!\"\n\nWith military promptitude Buffalo Billy obeyed, and putting on the\nCalifornia brakes, he drew his horses to a stand-still.\n\n\"Well, what have you got to-day that's worthy our picking, my Boy\nDriver?\" said the road-agent leader approaching the coach.\n\n\"Only women, and I beg you not to be brute enough to scare 'em,\" said\nBilly.\n\n\"Oh! they must pay toll; and they generally have good watches; but what\nis it, a woman's rights meeting, or a Seminary broke loose?'\n\n\"Ask 'em,\" was the quiet reply, and as the leader of the road-agents,\nclosely followed by his half-dozen men, all in masks, rode up to the\nstage door, Billy suddenly drew his revolver and with the flash the\nchief fell dead.\n\n\"Out, boys!\" yelled Billy, and the stage doors flew open, dresses and\nbonnets were cast aside, and nine splendid fellows began a rapid fire\nupon the amazed road-agents.\n\nOne or two managed to escape; but that was all, for after four of their\nnumber had fallen, the balance were glad enough to cry for quarter,\nwhich was shown them only until a rope could be thrown over the limb of\na tree and they drawn up to expiate their crimes by hanging.\n\nIt was Billy's little plot, and he got the larger part of the reward,\nand the credit of ridding the country of a daring band of desperate men.\n\nShortly after this bold act, hearing of the continued failing health of\nhis mother, Buffalo Billy, like the dutiful son he was, once more\nresigned his position as stage-driver, and returned to Kansas, arriving\nthere a few months after the breaking out of the civil war in 1861.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXII.\n\nTHE BOY SOLDIER.\n\n\nAfter a very short stay at home Buffalo Billy began to show signs of\nuneasiness, for he was too near Leavenworth, then an important military\npost, not to get the soldier's fever for battles and marches.\n\nHe soon discovered that a company of cavalry was being raised to do\nservice in Missouri, and he at once enlisted and went as a guard to a\nGovernment train bound to Springfield, Missouri, and after that he was\nmade a dispatch runner to the different forts, and met with many\nthrilling adventures while in that capacity.\n\nFrom this duty Buffalo Billy was sent as guide and scout to the Ninth\nKansas Regiment which was ordered into the Kiowa and Comanche country,\nand it did good service there, and the young soldier added new laurels\nto his name.\n\nThe second year of the war Billy became one of the famous \"Red Legged\nScouts,\" formed of the most noted rangers of Kansas.\n\nWhile a member of this daring band he was sent to guide a train to\nDenver, but upon arriving there, learning of the severe illness of his\nmother, he at once set off for home, going the entire distance alone and\nmaking wonderful time through a country infested with dangers.\n\nTo his joy, he found his mother still living, yet failing rapidly, and\nsoon after his arrival she breathed her last and Buffalo Billy had lost\nhis best, truest friend, and the sad event cast a gloom over the life of\nthe young soldier.\n\nAs one of his sisters had married some time before, her husband took\ncharge of the farm, while Billy returned to the army and was sent into\nMississippi and Tennessee with his command.\n\nBut Billy did not relish military duty, for he had become too well\naccustomed to the free life of the plains, and, resigning his position\nas scout, started upon his return to the prairies.\n\nBut while on the way he came in sight of a pleasant farm-house, from\nwhich came a cry of help in the voice of a woman.\n\nBilly saw five horses hitched to a fence on the other side of the house;\nbut this array of numbers did not deter him when a woman called for aid,\nand dismounting quickly he bounded upon the piazza, and was just running\ninto the door when a man came out into the hall and fired at him, but\nfortunately missed him.\n\nBill instantly returned the fire, and his quick, unerring aim sent a\nbullet into the man's brain.\n\nAt the shots a wilder cry came from within for help and two men dashed\nout into the hall, and, seeing Billy, three pistols flashed together.\n\nBut Billy was unhurt, and one of his foes fell dead, while springing\nupon the other he gave him a stunning blow with his revolver that put\nhim out of the fight, and then bounded into the room to discover an\nelderly lady and a lovely young girl threatened by two huge ruffians,\nwho were holding their pistols to their heads to try and force from them\nthe hiding-place of their money and valuables.\n\nSeeing Billy, they both turned upon him, and a fierce fight ensued,\nwhich quickly ended in the killing of both ruffians by the brave young\nsoldier, who seemed to bear a charmed life, for he was unhurt, though he\nhad slain four men in a desperate combat and wounded a fifth.\n\nJust then into the room dashed three men, and their weapons were leveled\nat Buffalo Billy, and right then and there his days would have ended had\nit not been for the courage and presence of mind of the lovely young\ngirl, who threw herself forward upon his breast, to the youth's great\nsurprise, and cried out:\n\n\"Father! Brothers! don't fire, for this man is our friend.\"\n\nThe old man and his sons quickly lowered their rifles, while the former\nsaid:\n\n\"A friend in blue uniform, while we wear the gray?'\n\n\"I am a Union soldier, sir, I admit, and I was going by your home, heard\na cry for help, and found your wife and daughter, as I suppose them to\nbe, at the mercy of five ruffians, and I was fortunate enough to serve\nthem.\n\n\"But I will not be made prisoner, gentlemen.\"\n\nBilly's hands were on his revolvers and he looked squarely in the faces\nof those in his front, and they could see that he was a man who meant\nwhat he said.\n\n\"My dear sir, I am a Confederate, I admit, and this is my home; but I am\nnot the one to do a mean action toward a Union soldier, and especially\none who has just served me so well in killing these men, whom I\nrecognize as jay-hawkers, who prey on either side, and own no allegiance\nto North or South.\n\n\"Here is my hand, sir, and I will protect you while in our lines.\"\n\nBilly grasped the hand of the farmer, and then those of his sons, and\nall thanked him warmly for the service he had done them.\n\nBut Billy was surprised to find he was within the Confederate lines, and\nfound by inquiring that he had taken the wrong road a few miles back.\n\nThe farmer was the captain of a neighborhood military company, and it\nwas his custom to come home with his sons whenever he had opportunity,\nand arriving just as the fight ended he saw a man in gray uniform lying\ndead in the hall, and beholding Billy in the blue, had an idea that the\nNorthern soldiers were on a raid, had been met by some of his men, and\nhe certainly would have killed the young scout but for the timely act of\nhis lovely daughter, Louise.\n\nAnd it was this very circumstance, the meeting with Louise Frederici,\nthe Missouri farmer's daughter, that caused Buffalo Billy to decide to\nremain in the army, and not to return to the plains, for when stationed\nin or near St. Louis, he could often see the pretty dark-eyed girl who\nhad stolen his heart away.\n\nBefore the war ended Buffalo Billy returned to Kansas, but he carried\nwith him the heart of Louise Frederici, and the promise that she would\none day be his wife.\n\nAfter a short visit to his sisters he again became a stage-driver, and\nit was by making a desperate drive down a mountain side to escape a band\nof road-agents that he won the well-deserved title of the Prince of the\nReins.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIII.\n\nIN FETTERS.\n\n\nAll the time that Buffalo Bill was driving stage his thoughts were\nturning to dark-eyed pretty Louise Frederici in her pleasant Missouri\nhome, and at last he became so love-sick that he determined to pay her a\nvisit and ask her to marry him at once.\n\nHe was no longer a boy in size, but a tall, elegantly-formed man, though\nhis years had not yet reached twenty-one.\n\nHe had saved up some money, and off to Missouri he started, and his\nstrangely-handsome face, superb form and comely manners were admired\nwherever he went, and people wondered who he was, little dreaming they\nwere gazing upon a man who had been a hero since his eighth year.\n\nHe soon won Louise over to his way of thinking, by promising he would\nsettle down, and they were married at farmer Frederici's home and\nstarted on their way, by a Missouri steamer, to Kansas.\n\nArriving at Leavenworth, Buffalo Bill and his bride received a royal\nwelcome from his old friends, and they were escorted to their new home,\nwhere for awhile the young husband did \"settle down.\"\n\nBut at last, finding he could make more money on the plains, and that\nbeing to his liking, he left his wife with his sisters and once more\nstarted for the far West, this time as a Government scout at Fort\nEllsworth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIV.\n\nSEEING SERVICE.\n\n\nIt was while in the capacity of scout at Fort Barker and Fort Hayes that\nBuffalo Bill added to his fame as an Indian-fighter, scout and guide,\nfor almost daily he met with thrilling adventures, while his knowledge\nof the country enabled him to guide commands from post to post with the\ngreatest of ease and without following a trail, but by taking a straight\ncourse across prairie or hill-land.\n\nWhile in the vicinity of Hayes City Buffalo Bill had a narrow escape\nfrom capture, with a party that was under his guidance; in fact death\nwould very suddenly have followed the capture of all.\n\nA party of officers and their wives, well mounted and armed, were\ndetermined not to go with the slow wagon-train from one fort to the\nother, and accordingly Buffalo Bill was engaged to guide them.\n\nHe made known to them the great dangers of the trip, but they being\ndetermined, the party started, some dozen in all.\n\nFor awhile all went well, but then Buffalo Bill discovered signs of\nIndians, and hardly had the discovery been made when a large force, over\ntwo hundred in number, came in sight and gave chase.\n\nOf course the party were terribly alarmed, and regretted their coming\nwithout on escort of soldiers.\n\nBut Buffalo Bill said quietly:\n\n\"You are all well mounted, so ride straight on, and don't push too fast,\nor get separated.\"\n\n\"And you, Cody?\" asked an officer.\n\n\"Oh, I'll be along somewhere; but I've got a new gun, a sixteen-shooter,\nand I want to try just what it will do.\"\n\nThe Indians were now not more than half a mile away and coming on at\nfull speed, with wild yells and whoops, confident of making a splendid\ncapture.\n\nDirecting the officers what course to take, Buffalo Bill saw them start\noff at full speed while he remained quietly seated upon his splendid\nhorse Brigham, a steed that equaled Sable Satan for speed and endurance.\n\nIt was evident that the red-skins were surprised at beholding a single\nhorseman standing so calmly in their path, and awaiting their coming,\nand the party in flight looked back in great alarm as they saw that\nBuffalo Bill did not move, appearing like a bronze statue of horse and\nrider.\n\n\"What could it mean?\"\n\n\"Was he mad?\"\n\nAnd many more were the comments made by the party, while the Indians\nwere equally as inquisitive upon the subject.\n\nNearer and nearer came the rushing band, for what had two hundred\nmounted warriors to fear from one man?\n\nNearer and nearer, until presently Buffalo Bill was seen to raise his\nrifle, and a perfect stream of fire seemed to flow out of the muzzle,\nwhile the shots came in rapid succession.\n\nIt was a Winchester repeating rifle, and Buffalo Bill had been testing\nit thoroughly.\n\nAnd the result was such that the Indians drew rein, for down in the dust\nhad gone several of their number, while half a dozen ponies had been\nkilled by the shots; in fact, fired into the crowded mass of men and\nhorses, nearly every discharge had done harm.\n\nWith a wild, defiant war-cry, Buffalo Bill wheeled and rode away,\nloading his matchless rifle as he ran.\n\nIt did not take long for Brigham to over-take the horses in advance, and\nwarm congratulations followed, for the officers and ladies had seen the\ndaring scout check the entire band of red-skins.\n\nBut though temporarily stunned by the effects of the shots, for the\nIndians had not seen repeating rifles in those days, they soon rallied\nand came on once more at full speed.\n\nAnd again did the scout drop behind and await their coming, to once more\nadminister upon the amazed warriors a check that made them more\ncautious, for they kept out of range.\n\nYet they kept up the chase all day, and only drew off when the fort came\nin view, and the party arrived in safety in its walls.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXV.\n\nCAPTURING A HERD OF PONIES.\n\n\nWhile at the fort the colonel in command complained at the non-arrival\nof a drove of Government horses, as he was anxious to make a raid into\nthe Indian country, and Buffalo Bill volunteered to go and hurry the\ncattle on.\n\nHe had been gone but a few hours from the fort when he crossed a trail\nwhich he knew to have been made by a large Indian village on the move.\n\nCautiously he followed it, and just at sunset came in sight of the camp,\npitched at the head of a valley, and saw below a large herd of horses\ngrazing.\n\nTo return to the fort for aid he knew would take too long, so he\ndetermined to make an attempt to capture the herd himself, and, with his\nfield-glass carefully reconnoitered the surroundings as long as it was\nlight.\n\nHe saw that the nature of the valley was such that the herd could only\nescape by two ways, one through the Indian village and the other at the\nlower end, where he had observed four warriors placed as a guard and\nherders.\n\n\"That is my quartette,\" he said to himself, and mounting Brigham he\nbegan to make his way around to the lower end of the valley.\n\nAfter an hour's ride he gained the desired point, and then set down to\nwork.\n\nCarrying with him in case of need a complete Indian costume, he was not\nlong in rigging himself up in it and painting his face.\n\nThen he left Brigham in a canyon near by and cautiously approached the\nentrance to the valley, which was not more than two hundred yards wide\nat this point.\n\nPeering through the darkness he saw the four dark objects, about equal\ndistances apart, which he knew were the ponies of the four warriors on\nguard, and that they were lying down near in the grass he felt\nconfident.\n\nGetting past the line of herders he boldly advanced toward the one\nnearest the hill on the left, and knew he would be taken for some chief\ncoming from the village and accordingly not dreaded.\n\nIt was just as he had expected: the Indian herder saw him coming\ndirectly from the village, as he believed and did not even rise from the\ngrass as Buffalo Bill drew near.\n\nWith a word in Sioux Buffalo Bill advanced and suddenly threw himself\nupon the prostrate warrior.\n\nThere was a short struggle, but no cry, as the scout's hand grasped the\nred-skin's throat, and then all was still, the Indian pony lariated\nnear, not even stopping his grazing.\n\nThrowing the red-skin's blanket over his body, Buffalo Bill moved away a\nfew paces to where the pony stood, and called to the next herder in the\nSioux tongue to come to him.\n\nThe unsuspecting warrior obeyed, and the next instant found himself in a\ngripe of iron and a knife blade piercing his heart.\n\n\"This is red work, but it is man to man and in a few days the whole band\nwould make a strike upon the settlements,\" muttered the scout, as he\nmoved slowly toward the position his enemy had left at his call.\n\nAs he reached the spot he saw the third warrior standing on his post and\nboldly walked up to him, when again the same short, fierce, silent fight\nfollowed and Buffalo Bill arose from the ground a victor.\n\nThe fourth, and only remaining guard he knew was over under the shadow\nof the hill, and thither he went.\n\nArriving near he did not see him, and looking around suddenly discovered\nhim asleep at the foot of a tree.\n\n\"I'd like to let you sleep, Mr. Red-skin, but you'd wake up at the wrong\ntime, so you must follow your comrades to the happy hunting-grounds,\" he\nmuttered, as he bent over and seized the throat of the Indian in his\npowerful gripe.\n\nThe warrior was almost a giant in size, and he made a fierce fight for\nhis life.\n\nBut the iron hold on his throat did not relax, and at last his efforts\nceased and his grasp upon the scout, which had been so great he could\nnot use his knife, weakened and there was no more show of resistance.\n\nThen not an instant did Buffalo Bill tarry, but went up the valley,\nrounded up the herd of horses and quickly drove them away from the\nvillage, in which he knew slept half a thousand warriors.\n\nSlowly he moved the large brute mass, and they went toward the mouth of\nthe valley and were soon out upon the prairie.\n\nThen mounting Brigham he urged them on until out of hearing of the camp,\nwhen he headed them for the fort.\n\nIt was a hard drive and taxed both Brigham and his rider fearfully; but\nat last the herd was driven to a good grazing place a few miles from the\nfort and Buffalo Bill left them and rode rapidly on, and just at dawn\nreported his valuable capture and that the same horses could be used in\nan attack upon the Indian camp.\n\nThe colonel at once acted upon his suggestion; the cavalrymen who had no\nhorses, loaded with their saddles, bridles and arms, went at a quick\nmarch to the grazing place of the horses, and ere the day was three\nhours old three hundred men were mounted and on the trail for the\nred-skin village, while the remainder of the ponies were driven to the\nfort.\n\nDeprived of the greater part of their horses, the red-skins could march\nbut slowly; but they were in full retreat when Buffalo Bill led the\ncommand in sight of them, and though the dismounted warriors fought\nbravely, they were severely whipped and all their village equipage\ncaptured or destroyed, while instead of attacking the white settlements\nas they had intended, they were glad enough to beg for relief.\n\nThis gallant act made the name of Buffalo Bill, or Pa-e-has-ka (Long\nHair), as they called him, known to every Indian on the north-west\nborder, and they regarded him with the greatest terror, while it made\nhim an idol among the soldiers.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVI.\n\nTHE CHAMPION OF THE PLAINS.\n\n\nAs Buffalo Bill was known to be the most successful hunter on the\nprairies, shortly after his capture of the herd of Indian ponies he\nreceived an offer from the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company to keep their\nworkmen supplied with meat, and the terms allowed him were so generous\nthat he felt he owed it to his family, for he had become the father of a\nlovely little daughter, Arta, born in Leavenworth, to accept the\nproposition, and did so.\n\nThe employees of the road numbered some twelve hundred, and Buffalo\nBill's duty was to supply them with fresh meat, a most arduous task, and\na dangerous one, for the Indians were constantly upon the war-path.\n\nBut he undertook the work, and it was but a very short while before his\nfame as a buffalo-killer equaled his reputation as an Indian-fighter,\nand often on a hunt for the shaggy brutes, he had to fight the red\nsavages who constantly sought his life.\n\nIt was during his service for the Kansas Pacific that he was\nrechristened Buffalo Bill, and he certainly deserved the renewal of his\nname, as in one season he killed the enormous number of _four thousand\neight hundred and twenty buffaloes_, a feat never before, or since\nequaled.\n\nAnd during this time, in the perils he met with, and his numerous\nhair-breadth escapes, in conflict with red-skins, horse-thieves and\ndesperadoes, it is estimated that over a score of human beings fell\nbefore his unerring rifle and revolvers, while, he still bearing a\ncharmed life, received only a few slight wounds.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVII.\n\nTHE CHAMPION.\n\n\nSome time after his great feat of killing buffalo for the Kansas\nPacific, Buffalo Bill was challenged by Billy Comstock, another famous\nbuffalo-hunter, and a scout and Indian interpreter, to a match at\nkilling the shaggy wild animals.\n\nThose who knew Comstock and had seen him among a herd of buffalo, and\nhad heard of Buffalo Bill's exploits, were most desirous of making a\nmatch between the two to discover which was the best \"killer.\"\n\nOn the other side, those who knew Buffalo Bill and had seen him at work\nat the buffaloes, were willing to bet high that he would prove the\nchampion.\n\nAs the men were not only willing, but anxious to meet, it was not\ndifficult for them to do so, and all preliminaries were satisfactorily\narranged to all parties concerned.\n\nThe men were to, of course, hunt on horse-back, and to begin at a\ncertain hour in the morning and keep it up for eight hours, a large herd\nhaving just been found and its locality marked for the day of the sport.\n\nThe stakes were made five hundred dollars a side, and there were\nnumbers, both ladies and gentlemen, out on horseback to see the sport.\n\nThe herd having been located early the next morning, the two hunters\nleft for the field, and the large crowd followed at a distance.\n\nThe counters, those chosen to follow each hunter and count his killed,\nfollowed close behind Bill and Comstock, who rode side by side, chatting\nin a most friendly way until the herd was sighted.\n\nBuffalo Bill was mounted upon Brigham, a noted buffalo horse, and he was\narmed with a breech-loading Springfield rifle, and a weapon which had\nsent many a red-skin to the happy hunting-grounds.\n\nComstock was also splendidly mounted, and carried his favorite buffalo\nrepeating rifle, and both men felt confident of victory.\n\nReaching the herd, the two hunters, followed by their counters, well\nmounted also, dashed into a herd, and it quickly divided, giving each\none an opportunity to show his skill, as though the buffaloes themselves\nsympathized with the match and were willing to do all in their power to\nforward it.\n\nIn his first run Buffalo Bill killed thirty-eight, while in the same\nlength of time Billy Comstock dropped twenty-three, which gave the\nformer the advantage thus far.\n\nA rest was then called for both horses and men, and once more they\nstarted out for the second run, a small herd appearing opportunely in\nsight.\n\nIn this run Buffalo Bill's tally was eighteen to Comstock's fourteen,\nand another halt was made for rest and refreshments.\n\nWhen called to the scratch for the third run, Buffalo Bill, knowing he\nhad the best buffalo horse in the country, stripped him of saddle and\nbridle and sprung upon his bare back.\n\nA third herd was looked up, and the two killers began their work with a\nwill, and Buffalo Bill sailed to the front with thirteen, which gave him\na list of sixty-nine to Comstock's forty-six.\n\nThe third run closed the match, and Buffalo Bill was proclaimed the\nwinner and the champion buffalo-killer of the prairies.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXVIII.\n\nA GAME FOR LIFE AND DEATH.\n\n\nHaving concluded his engagement with the Kansas Pacific Railroad,\nBuffalo Bill once more became a Government scout, and it was while\nserving on the far border that he won the hatred of a notorious band of\ndesperadoes whom he had several times thwarted in their intended crimes.\n\nHearing that they had said they would kill him at sight, he boldly rode\ninto the town where they had their haunts, and, true to their word, two\nof them came out and attacked him.\n\nAt the first shot Bill was wounded in the right arm, which destroyed his\naim, and, ere he could draw a revolver with his left hand, his horse\nfell dead beneath him, pinning him to the ground.\n\nInstantly his foes rushed upon him to complete their work, when, rising\non his wounded arm, he leveled his revolver with his left hand and shot\nthem down as they were almost upon him.\n\nAn army officer who witnessed the affray was so much pleased with the\nnerve of Buffalo Bill that he presented him with a splendid horse, one\nof a pair he had just received from the East, and having had his wound\ndressed the scout rode back to camp delighted with his present.\n\nBut the leader of the desperado band still swore to kill Buffalo Bill,\nand to pick a quarrel with him one night in a saloon, boldly dared him\nto play him a game of cards.\n\n\"Yes, you accursed thief and murderer, I'll play you a game of cards if\nyou will let me name the stakes,\" said Buffalo Bill.\n\n\"All right, name what you please, so you play,\" was the answer, and the\ncrowd gathered eagerly around, confident that there would be trouble.\n\n\"I'll name life and death as the stakes,\" said Buffalo Bill.\n\n\"What do you mean?\"\n\n\"I mean that if you win the game I'll stand ten paces away and give you\na shot at me; if I win, you are to give me a shot at you.\"\n\nThe desperado did not like this arrangement, but having challenged\nBuffalo Bill to play, and given him the choice of the stakes, he dared\nnot back down, and said:\n\n\"All right, let us begin.\"\n\n\"Mind you, no cheating, for I shall shoot you the moment I catch you at\nit.\"\n\n\"Two can play at that game, Buffalo Bill,\" said the desperado, and\nseating themselves at the table the game was begun, each man having his\nrevolver lying by his side.\n\nBuffalo Bill was calm and smiling, for he had confidence in his\nuniversal good luck to win.\n\nThe desperado was pale and stern, and played warily, for he saw the eye\nof his foe watching him like a hawk.\n\nOnce Bill dropped his hand upon his revolver and his adversary attempted\nto do the same; but the scout was too quick for him and merely said:\n\n\"Beware, for if I catch you cheating, I will kill you.\"\n\n\"Who's cheating, Buffalo Bill?\"\n\n\"You were about to make an attempt to do so; but I warn you,\" was the\ncalm reply.\n\nThen, in breathless silence the game went on, and Buffalo Bill won.\n\nInstantly the desperado seized his revolver, but he felt against his\nhead the cold muzzle of a weapon, and heard the stern tones:\n\n\"Bent, I guess I'll save Buffalo Bill from killing you, by hanging you\nto the nearest tree.\"\n\nThe speaker was Wild Bill, who had stood behind the chair of the\ndesperado.\n\nAll knew him, and that he was an officer of the law, and would keep his\nword.\n\nBuffalo Bill said nothing, and the crime-stained wretch was dragged out\nof the saloon, a rope put around his neck, and he was hanged for his\nmany red deeds, thereby escaping death at the hands of the scout.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXIX.\n\nBILL'S STORY OF HIS BECOMING AN ACTOR.\n\n\nAs Buffalo Bill in the past few years has become known as an actor, and\nappears as such with his Dramatic Combination, during the winter months,\nwhen he is not on the plains, it will not be by any means uninteresting\nto my readers to learn how he came to go upon the stage, and the story I\ngive in his own words, in relating his experience to a reporter who had\ncalled upon him for some jottings regarding his life.\n\nHe said:\n\n\"It was in the fall of '71, that General Sheridan came to the plains\nwith a party of gentlemen for the purpose of engaging in a buffalo-hunt,\nto extend from Fort McPherson, Nebraska, to Fort Hayes, Kansas, on the\nKansas Pacific Railroad, a distance of 228 miles, through the finest\nhunting country in the world. In the party were James Gordon Bennett of\nthe New York _Herald_, Lawrence and Leonard Jerome, Carl Livingstone,\nS.G. Heckshire, General Fitzhugh of Pittsburg, General Anson Stager of\nthe Western Union Telegraph Company, and other noted gentlemen. I guided\nthe party, and when the hunt was finished, I received an invitation from\nthem to go to New York and make them a visit, as they wanted to show me\nthe East, as I had shown them the West. I was then Chief of Scouts in\nthe Department of the Platte. And in January, 1872, just after the Grand\nDuke Alexis's hunt, which, by the way, I organized, I got a leave of\nabsence, and for the first time in my life found myself east of the\nMississippi river.\n\n\"Stopping at Chicago two days, where I was the guest of General\nSheridan, I proceeded to New York, where I was shown the 'elephant.'\nDuring my visit I attended the performance at the Bowery Theater, in\ncompany with Colonel E.Z.C. Judson (Ned Buntline), and witnessed a\ndramatization of Judson's story, entitled 'Buffalo Bill, King of Border\nMen.' The part of 'Buffalo Bill' was impersonated by J.B. Studley, an\nexcellent actor, and I must say the fellow looked like me, as his\nmake-up was a perfect picture of myself. I had not watched myself very\nlong before the audience discovered that the original Buffalo Bill was\nin the private box, and they commenced cheering, which stopped the\nperformance, and they would not cease until I had shown myself and\nspoken a few words.\n\n\"At that time I had no idea of going on the stage, such a thought having\nnever entered my head. But some enterprising managers, believing there\nwas money in me, offered me as high as $1,000 per week to go on the\nstage. I told them I would rather face 1,000 Indians than attempt to\nopen my mouth before all those people. I returned to my duties as a\nscout, and during the summer of 1872 Ned Buntline was constantly writing\nto me to come East and go on the stage, offering large inducements. As\nscouting business was a little dull, I concluded to try it for awhile,\nand started East in company with Texas Jack. Met Buntline in Chicago\nwith a company ready to support me.\n\n\"We were to open in Chicago in Nixon's Amphitheater on December 16th,\n1872. I arrived in Chicago December 12th, 1872. We were driven to the\ntheater, where I was introduced to Jim Nixon, who said, 'Mr. Buntline,\ngive me your drama, as I am ready to cast your piece, and we have no\ntime to lose, if you are to open Monday, and these men who have never\nbeen on the stage will require several rehearsals.' Buntline surprised\nus all by saying that he had not written the drama yet, but would do so\nat once. Mr. Nixon said, 'No drama! and this is Thursday. Well, I will\ncancel your date.' But Buntline was not to be balked in this way, and\nasked Nixon what he would rent the theater one week for. 'One thousand\ndollars,' said Nixon. 'It's my theater,' said Buntline, making out a\ncheck for the amount. He rushed to the hotel, secured the services of\nseveral clerks to copy the parts, and in four hours had written 'The\nScouts of the Prairie.' He handed Texas Jack and I our parts, told us to\ncommit them to memory and report next morning for rehearsal. I looked at\nJack's and then at my part. Jack looked at me and said, 'Bill, how long\nwill it take you to commit your part?' 'About seven years, if I have\ngood luck.' Buntline said, 'Go to work.' I studied hard, and next\nmorning recited the lines, cues and all, to Buntline. Buntline said,\n'You must not recite cues; they are for you to speak from--the last\nwords of the persons who speak before you.' I said, 'Cues be d--d; I\nnever heard of anything but a billiard cue.'\n\n\"Well, night came. The house was packed. Up went the curtain. Buntline\nappeared as Cale Durg, an old Trapper, and at a certain time Jack\nand I were to come on. But we were a little late, and when I made my\nappearance, facing 3,000 people, among them General Sheridan and a\nnumber of army officers, it broke me all up and I could not remember\na word. All that saved me was my answer to a question put by Buntline.\nHe asked, 'What detained you?' I told him I had been on a hunt with\nMilligan. You see Milligan was a prominent Chicago gentleman who had\nbeen hunting with me a short time before on the plains, and had been\nchased by the Indians, and the papers had been full of his hunt for some\ntime; Buntline saw that I was 'up a stump,' for I had forgotten my\nlines, and he told me to tell him about the hunt. I told the story in\na very funny way, and it took like wild-fire with the audience.\n\n\"While I was telling the story, Buntline had whispered to the stage\nmanager that when I got through with my story to send on the Indians.\nPresently Buntline sung out: 'The Indians are upon us.' Now this was\n'pie' for Jack and I, and we went at those bogus Indians red hot until\nwe had killed the last one and the curtain went down amid a most\ntremendous applause, while the audience went wild. The other actors\nnever got a chance to appear in the first act. Buntline said, 'Go ahead\nwith the second act, it's going splendid.' I think that during the\nentire performance, neither Jack nor myself spoke a line of our original\nparts. But the next morning the press said it was the best show ever\ngiven in Chicago, as it was so bad it was good, and they could not see\nwhat Buntline was doing all the time if it took him four hours to write\nthat drama.\n\n\"Our business was immense all that season, and if we had been managed\nproperly we would have each made a small fortune. As it was I came out\n$10,000 ahead. In June, 1873, I returned to the plains, came East again\nin the fall, this time my own manager. I got a company, took the noted\n'Wild Bill' with me, but could not do much with him as he was not an\neasy man to handle, and would insist on shooting the supers in the legs\nwith powder, just to see them jump. He left a few months later and\nreturned to the plains. He was killed in August, 1876, in Deadwood.\n\n\"In the summer of 1876 I was Chief of Scouts under General Carr,\nafterward with General Crook and General Terry.\n\n\"On the 17th of July I killed Yellow Hand, a noted Cheyenne chief, and\ntook the first scalp for Custer. I returned to the stage in October,\n1876, and during the season of 1876 and 1879 I cleared $38,000. I have\ngenerally been successful financially on the stage. I am now in the\ncattle business in Nebraska, to which place I will return as soon as the\nseason is over, providing nothing serious occurs to call me home\nearlier.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\nTHE YELLOW HAND DUEL.\n\n\nAs Buffalo Bill, in the foregoing chapter speaks of his killing Yellow\nHand, the celebrated Cheyenne chief, who was greatly feared by his own\npeople, and a terror to the whites, I will give an account of that\ntragic duel between a white man and two Indians, for another chief also\nrode down and attacked the noted scout, after his red comrade had\nfallen.\n\nWhen the Indian war of 1876 broke out Buffalo Bill at 01:00 closed his\ndramatic season, and started post haste for the West, having received a\ntelegram from General E.A. Carr asking for his services as scout in the\ncoming campaign.\n\nHe joined the command at Fort D.A. Russell, where the famous Fifth\nCavalry Regiment was then in camp, and arriving received a boisterous\nwelcome from his old comrades, who felt that, with Buffalo Bill as Chief\nof Scouts, they would surely have warm work with the Indians.\n\nThe Fifth Cavalry was at once ordered to operate in scouting the country\non the South Fork of the Cheyenne and to the foot of the Black Hills,\nand it was while driving the Indians before them that the news came of\nCuster's fatal fight with Sitting Bull on the Little Big Horn.\n\nGeneral Merritt, who had superseded Carr in command marched at once to\nthe Big Horn country, and while _en route_ there came news of a\nlarge force of warriors moving down to join Sitting Bull.\n\nInstantly five hundred picked men of the Fifth started back by forced\nmarches, and Buffalo Bill, splendidly mounted, kept on ahead of the\ncommand a couple of miles.\n\nDiscovering the Indians, he at the same time beheld two horsemen whom he\nsaw to be whites, riding along unconscious of the presence of foes.\n\nHe knew that they must be scouts bearing dispatches, and at once\ndetermined to save them for they were riding in a direction down one\nvalley that would bring them directly upon the red-skins, who had\nalready seen them, and had sent a force of thirty warriors out to\nintercept them.\n\nInstantly Buffalo Bill dashed over the ridge of the hill that concealed\nhim from the view of the Cheyennes, and rode directly toward the band\ngoing to attack the two white horsemen.\n\nThey halted suddenly at sight of him, but, seeing that he was alone,\nthey started for him with wild yells.\n\nBut still he kept on directly toward them, until within range, when he\nopened upon them with his matchless Evans rifle, a thirty-four-shot\nrepeater, and a hot fight began, for they returned the fire.\n\nThis was just what Buffalo Bill wanted, for the firing alarmed the\nhorsemen and placed them on their guard, and he knew that the Indian\nvolleys would be heard at the command and hasten them forward.\n\nHaving dropped a couple of red-skins and several ponies, Buffalo Bill\nwheeled to the rightabout, dashed up to the top of a hill, and,\nsignaling to the two whites to follow him, headed for the command at\nfull speed.\n\nAs he had anticipated, the two men were scouts with important dispatches\nfor General Merritt, and Bill's bold act had not only saved their lives,\nbut also the dispatches, and the result of it was that the Fifth Cavalry\nwent at once into line of battle, while the Cheyennes also formed for\nbattle, though evidently surprised at being headed off at that point.\n\nBut they saw that they were double the force of the whites, and were\ndetermined upon a fight, and their chiefs reconnoitered carefully their\nfoes' strength and position.\n\nBuffalo Bill also volunteered to go out and get a closer look at them,\nto see what they were up to, and General Merritt told him to do so, but\nnot to venture too near and expose himself.\n\nAs he left the line two Indian horsemen also rode out from among their\ncomrades, and one was some lengths in front of the other.\n\nAt a glance Buffalo Bill saw that the two were full chiefs, and they had\nnot advanced far toward each other when he discovered that he was the\nespecial object of their attention.\n\nBut though one halted, the other came on, and the scout and the chief\ncame within a hundred yards of each other.\n\nThen the Indian cried out in his own tongue:\n\n\"I know Pa-e-has-ka the Great White Hunter and want to fight him.\"\n\n\"Then come on, you red devil, and have it out,\" shouted back Buffalo\nBill, and forgetting General Merritt's orders not to expose himself, and\nto the horror of the regiment, every man of whom saw him, as well as did\nthe Indians, he dashed at full speed toward the chief, who likewise,\nwith a wild yell rode toward him.\n\nTogether both fired, the chief with his rifle, and Buffalo Bill with his\nrevolver, and down dropped both horses.\n\nBuffalo Bill nimbly caught on his feet, while the Indian was pinned by\none leg under his horse, and with his war-cry the scout rushed upon him.\n\nAs he advanced the chief succeeded in releasing his leg from beneath his\nhorse and again fired, as did Buffalo Bill, and both of them with\nrevolvers.\n\nThe Indian's bullet cut a slight gash in Bill's arm, while he struck the\nred-skin in the leg, and the next instant sprung upon him with his\nknife, which both had drawn.\n\nThe hand-to-hand fight was hardly five seconds in duration, and Buffalo\nBill had driven his knife into the broad red breast, and then tore from\nhis head the scalp and feather war-bonnet, and waving it over his head,\nshouted in ringing tones:\n\n\"_Bravo! the first scalp to avenge Custer!_\"\n\nA shout of warning from the cavalry caused him to turn quickly and he\nbeheld the second chief riding down upon him at full speed.\n\nBut Bill turned upon him, and a shot from his revolver got him another\nscalp.\n\nBut hardly had he stooped to tear it from the skull, when the Indians,\nwith wildest yells, charged upon him.\n\nThey were nearer to him than was the regiment, and it looked bad for\nBuffalo Bill; but the gallant Fifth charged in splendid style, met the\nIndians in a savage fight, and then began to drive them in wild\nconfusion, and pushed them back into the Agency a sorely whipped body of\nCheyennes, and grieving over heavy losses.\n\nUpon reaching the Agency Buffalo Bill learned that the two Indians he\nhad killed in the duel were Yellow Hand and Red Knife, and Cut Nose, the\nfather of the former swore some day to have the scout's scalp.\n\nBut Buffalo Bill laughed lightly at this threat, evidently believing the\nold adage that \"A threatened man is long lived.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\nCONCLUSION.\n\n\nHaving gone over many of the thrilling scenes in the life of W.F. Cody,\nBuffalo Bill, from boyhood to manhood, and shown what indomitable pluck\nhe possesses, and the pinnacle of fame he has reached unaided, and by\nhis own exertions and will, I can only now say that much remains to be\ntold of his riper years, from the time he stepped across the threshold\nfrom youth to man's estate, for since then his life has been one long\nseries of perilous adventures which, though tinged with romance, and\nseeming fiction, will go down to posterity as true border history of\nthis most remarkable man, the truly called King of Prairiemen.\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nHalf-Dime Singer's Library\n\n   1 WHOA, EMMA! and 59 other Songs.\n   2 CAPTAIN CUFF and 57 other Songs.\n   3 THE GAINSBORO' HAT and 62 other Songs.\n   4 JOHNNY MORGAN and 60 other Songs.\n   5 I'LL STRIKE YOU WITH A FEATHER and 62 others,\n   6 GEORGE THE CHARMER and 56 other Songs.\n   7 THE BELLE OF ROCKAWAY and 52 other Songs.\n   8 YOUNG FELLAH, YOU'RE TOO FRESH and 60 others.\n   9 SHY YOUNG GIRL and 65 other Songs.\n  10 I'M THE GOVERNOR'S ONLY SON and 58 other Songs.\n  11 MY FAN and 65 other Songs.\n  12 COMIN' THRO' THE RYE and 55 other Songs.\n  13 THE ROLLICKING IRISHMAN and 59 other Songs.\n  14 OLD DOG TRAY and 62 other Songs.\n  15 WHOA, CHARLIE and 59 other Songs.\n  16 IN THIS WHEAT BY AND BY and 62 other Songs.\n  17 NANCY LEE and 58 other Songs.\n  18 I'M THE BOY THAT'S BOUND TO BLAZE and 57 others.\n  19 THE TWO ORPHANS and 59 other Songs.\n  20 WHAT ARE THE WILD WAVES SAYING, SISTER? and 59 other Songs.\n  21 INDIGNANT POLLY WOG and 59 other Songs.\n  22 THE OLD ARM-CHAIR and 58 other Songs.\n  23 ON CONEY ISLAND BEACH and 58 other Songs.\n  24 OLD SIMON, THE HOT-CORN MAN and 60 others.\n  25 I'M IN LOVE and 56 other Songs.\n  26 PARADE OF THE GUARDS and 56 other Songs.\n  27 YO, HEAVE, HO! and 60 other Songs.\n  28 'TWILL NEVER DO TO GIB IT UP SO and 60 others.\n  29 BLUE BONNETS OVER THE BORDER and 54 others,\n  30 THE MERRY LAUGHING MAN and 56 other Songs.\n  31 SWEET FORGET-ME-NOT and 55 other Songs.\n  32 LEETLE BABY MINE and 53 other Songs.\n  33 DE BANJO AM DE INSTRUMENT FOR ME and 53 others.\n  34 TAFFY and 50 other Songs.\n  35 JUST TO PLEASE THE BOYS and 52 other Songs.\n  36 SKATING ON ONE IN THE GUTTER and 52 others.\n  37 KOLORED KRANKS and 59 other Songs.\n  38 NIL DESPERANDUM and 53 other Songs.\n  39 THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME and 50 other Songs.\n  40 'TIS BUT A LITTLE FADED FLOWER and 50 others.\n  41 PRETTY WHILHELMINA and 60 other Songs.\n  42 DANCING IN THE BARN and 68 other Songs.\n  43 H.M.S. PINAFORE. COMPLETE, and 17 other Songs.\n\n\nSold everywhere by Newsdealers, at five cents per copy, or sent\n_post-paid_, to any address, on receipt of _Six cents_ per number.\n\n  BEADLE AND ADAMS, PUBLISHERS,\n    96 WILLIAM STREET, NEW YORK.","title":"Adventures of Buffalo Bill from boyhood to manhood","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":27211}