BUFFALO BILL RECEIVES A LETTER.
After a substantial breakfast, which both the Texan and Buffalo Bill
ate as only plainsmen can eat, the two mounted their horses and wended
their way to the cabin of Panther Kate, determined to make arrangements
for an early start west.
The huge dogs greeted their arrival with ferocious barking, but no
answer to their call came. The cattle had spread over the prairie, and
the chickens stood around the cabin as if waiting for their morning
meal. Riding up to the door, Buffalo Bill knocked loudly, but still no
answer came.
“Great heavens! What can have happened?” said Ben Tabor.
“I hope he has not released himself and harmed Kate,” replied the
scout. “I don’t know what to think; but there is a way to find out.”
He attempted to dismount, when the dogs rushed to attack him. Regaining
his saddle, the scout drew a revolver, and two shots ended the career
of Satan and Beelzebub, as Panther Kate had named the canine monsters.
With a rail, Buffalo Bill and Tabor then burst in the door. They found
the cabin vacant; and more still, evidences that it had been purposely
vacated, for articles not convenient to carry were strewn about, while
other things of use had evidently been removed.
The thongs that had bound the prisoner lay upon the floor, and the
lamp still burned on a table. Going to the stable, they found Panther
Kate’s two riding horses gone.
“Well, who would ever have believed that woman to be treacherous?” said
Ben Tabor.
Buffalo Bill looked blank.
“I never thought Panther Kate would go back on her word, but she
certainly has helped Kent King to get away. Let us go on to town and
see if we can strike a new trail.”
Rapidly the two now rode on into Border City. There a new mystery
awaited them, for Jack Coes, the keeper of the tavern, handed Buffalo
Bill a note, which he said had been brought him from Panther Kate.
Opening it, the scout read:
“MR. CODY: If I have broken faith with you, blame a woman’s love,
for in such cases the heart, not the head, governs her actions.
“The stake money I still hold. As you know with whom it was you
made your bet, you will see that I can continue to hold it, until
one or the other wins it, a consummation I devoutly pray shall
never happen; not that I wish to keep the gold, but that I hope
that neither you nor Kent King will die as the wager suggests.
“He befriended me as an orphan child, and laid the foundation for a
career that would have made me famous had not circumstances forced
me to follow him, believing myself to be wronged by him.
“Now the dead past is buried between us, and hope beckons us on to
a future of bliss, and we fly far from here. Your friend,
PANTHER KATE.
“Now Mrs. Kenton Kingsland.”
“Well, that settles it, and I fear we will never find them,” said Ben
Tabor, when he had read the letter which Buffalo Bill handed to him.
“Kent King will never leave this country,” said the scout, “no matter
what he may promise Kate. Here comes Seven-foot Harry.”
“Yes, I sent him to the cabin of Dandy Daly. What news, Harry?”
“He has taken his horse, saddle, bridle, and arms from ther cabing, and
were seen at one o’clock making tracks on ther trail west, along with a
boy I judges were Panther Kate.”
“All right; we will spend this day in striving to find their trail, and
if we do not succeed we will have to wait and go west with the bull
outfit.”
“It is all we can do, Ben,” answered Buffalo Bill.
And at once the hunt for the fugitives began, many of the citizens
joining in the search, for it was whispered around that Kent King, the
Gambler Guide, had come in the night and kidnaped Panther Kate, and no
one who knew the truth contradicted the statement.