BONNIE BELL’S WORK DONE.
The scouts under Buffalo Bill came into camp the following day after
starting upon the trails, two of them with horses which they had
found astray in the timber, and two more with a prisoner they had
taken.
Two others reported having killed a man whom they overtook and who
showed fight, and thus were the pretended detectives, the comrades of
Raymond, accounted for.
Texas Jack had the best story to tell, however. He had tracked a
horse down toward Pocket City and discovered that there was a man on
foot going along that way, too.
He had trailed them to a spot half a dozen miles from Yellow Dust
Valley, and there a horse had joined them, as the tracks showed. This
horse came from the direction of Yellow Dust Valley.
“That is the trail we take, Captain Caruth, and I am going to ask you
to camp your men outside of Pocket City, and you and the major go
on with me alone,” said Buffalo Bill. “You will discover my reason
later, and, if I mistake not, we will find Surgeon Powell in Pocket
City, for I cannot believe that harm has befallen him.”
So the command moved on its way, and Buffalo Bill guided them to the
camping-place near the cabin of Deadshot Dean.
It was night then, and, accompanied by Major Lester and Captain
Caruth, Buffalo Bill rode on into Pocket City and halted at the
Frying Pan.
But for the warning given by the Surgeon Scout, it would have been
to the great surprise of Bonnie Belle, as she came out of her rooms,
to be suddenly confronted by the tall form of the scout, and to see
behind him the two officers in uniform. The scout acted as spokesman,
and said:
“Bonnie Belle, we are here to find Surgeon Powell, and I feel that
you will give what information you can regarding him.”
“Then you missed my courier to the fort, sent this morning?”
“We saw no courier.”
“I sent to the fort a letter to Colonel Dunwoody explaining all,
and---- But why this disguise any longer, for I see that Major Lester
and Captain Caruth both know me now as Miss Arden, but here remember
I must be only Bonnie Belle.
“Come into my rooms and I will tell you all there is to tell, while,
to relieve your minds, let me say that Surgeon Powell is here and
doing well, though he is wounded. I will explain, however.”
And then she told the story of her bold rescue of her brother, and
which she had intended to be a bloodless one, as far as she was
concerned.
Surgeon Powell was sent for and was able to come to her rooms to meet
his comrades, and a pleasant meeting it was.
“And now, Bonnie Belle, I desire to ask you one question,” said
Buffalo Bill.
“Certainly.”
“Where is your brother?”
“Far from here, for he was set free upon conditions. I have kept my
contract with him, and with a handsome sum of money, he has gone, to
appear amid these scenes no more. As for myself, I shall start East
upon the next coach going out, to escape punishment from Colonel
Dunwoody, and also to visit the family of Deadshot Dean, near my old
girlhood home.”
Until a late hour they all talked together and the next morning, as
Surgeon Powell expressed himself as well able to journey, the return
march was begun.
Arriving there they found that Colonel Dunwoody had received
the letter written him by Ruth, and to Surgeon Powell he said
confidentially:
“One of these days I will ask that woman to be my wife, Powell, for
she is as noble a specimen of womanhood as I ever knew. The letter
she wrote me was a confession of why she had so cleverly deceived
us all here, in her rescue of her brother, and begged that I would
understand that her motive was to save him that he might not die
unrepentant.
“She has been on this border, as the landlady of a hotel and a
gambling-den, and yet I believe that she is pure as an angel.”
“And I would stake life, honor, all I hold dear on earth, Colonel
Dunwoody, upon her, for she is all that you say that she is,” was
Frank Powell’s response, and then he told the colonel all that had
occurred at the time of his being taken to the hotel.
“Do you not believe he will change his evil career, Powell, as he has
pledged himself to do?” asked the colonel.
“Pardon me, sir, if I say that I believe he is too steeped in sin
ever to be other than a wicked man.”
“All that he is, or yet may be, Powell, does not, however, alter my
regard for his sister one jot or tittle.”
“Nor mine, sir, and Buffalo Bill feels the same way, for he has said
as much.”
“And where is the fellow?”
“He has gone to Mexico, sir, I take it, from what his sister said,
and that is a very bad country for a man of his caliber to go to, to
reform.”
“It is indeed, Surgeon Powell,” was the answer of the colonel, who
then added:
“But I tell you in confidence that one of these days I shall seek out
that young girl and offer her my hand and heart.”
And Colonel Dunwoody was as good as his word, and he did not ask in
vain for the hand and heart of the real of his ideal love, though
then she was no longer known as Bonnie Belle of Pocket City, but as
Miss Ruth Leigh, a belle and beauty in society, and one known to
possess a very large fortune, of which she was the sole mistress.
And there was in the fort another happy couple in Clarice Carr and
Captain Dick Caruth, whose lives also had a secret romance in them.
As for Nina de Sutro, with a heart warped by her sorrows, the
wrecking of her life in girlhood by the outlaw who had crossed her
path, she in the end sought a haven of refuge within the walls of a
Mexican convent, hiding her life and her beautiful face under the
veil of a nun.
THE END.
No. 45 of the BUFFALO BILL BORDER STORIES, “Buffalo Bill and the
Doomed Dozen,” is a good deal of a mystery story. Of course it has
the Western setting, and all the trappings of an A1 Buffalo Bill
adventure yarn--yet it is a little different--though every bit as
enjoyable and thrilling as any in the series.
READ!
The Chain of Clues
By NICHOLAS CARTER
New Magnet Library No. 1030
A gamblers’ club with sixteen entrances through sixteen different
houses on three streets, where gambling is prohibited, is certainly
an interesting background for a detective story.
Nick Carter becomes a member of such an organization to trap a
crook who held human life so cheaply that his devilish crimes went
unpunished for a long time.
Nick matched his wits against those of the criminal and won
out--but how he did so will hold your undivided interest.
If your dealer cannot supply this book immediately, he will get it
for you.
STREET & SMITH CORPORATION
79 Seventh Avenue New York City
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We aim to keep in stock the works of such authors as Bertha Clay,
Charles Garvice, May Agnes Fleming, Nicholas Carter, Mary J.
Holmes, Mrs. Harriet Lewis, Horatio Alger, and the other famous
authors who are represented in our line by ten or more titles.
Therefore, if your dealer cannot supply you with exactly the book
you want, you are almost sure to find in his stock another title by
the same author, which you have not read.
It short, we are asking you to take what your dealer can supply,
rather than to insist upon just what you want. You won’t lose
anything by such substitution, because the books by the authors
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In ordering Street & Smith novels by mail, it is advisable to make
a choice of at least two titles for each book wanted, so as to give
us an opportunity to substitute for titles that are now out of
print.
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79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York City.
Transcriber’s Notes
The Table of Contents at the beginning of the book was created by
the transcriber.
Inconsistencies in hyphenation such as
“house-breaking”/“housebreaking” have been maintained.
Minor punctuation and spelling errors have been silently corrected
and, except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the
text, especially in dialogue, and inconsistent or archaic usage,
have been retained.
Page 2: “A Congress of the Rough-riders” changed to “A Congress of
the Rough Riders”.