A HARD TASK.
It is now time to go outside and see how Buffalo Bill and his crowd get
along.
When the trail was taken, Buffalo Bill in the lead, Steve Hathaway
following, the horses of the whole party were put to their full speed.
For Buffalo Bill argued that to save the life of Mainwaring and the
honor of those helpless girls, they must not give those white ruffians
any time to rest or to think.
Steve Hathaway was of this opinion, as far as that went, but he knew
the country and the stronghold so well that he told Buffalo Bill if the
ruffians got to the cave safe there would be no use in trying to attack
them, and no hope to drive them out, except by starvation--and that
would be difficult--for they had plenty of provisions.
Disguising himself by throwing away his Indian coat and taking a jacket
from a soldier, changing hats with Buffalo Bill, Steve now felt no
fear of recognition from the band, and, finding no words of his could
restrain Cody from charging right on, he rode on with him, showing him
short cuts to gain on the others.
Thus it was that Buffalo Bill, coming in sight just before the band
reached Nick’s Cavern, got a shot with his long-range rifle, which
dropped the last ruffian in the crowd dead from his saddle.
Steve, who knew the secret of the trap, and the peril if the rocks were
sent tumbling down, dashed his horse forward at its maddest speed, and
got the horse of Buffalo Bill by the rein just in time to rear him
back on his haunches and save the heroic rider from being crushed by
the terrible avalanche which fell and blocked the way.
Anger flushed the face of the scout for an instant when the horse
reared back; but in the next second, when he saw what a terrible death
he had been saved from, he turned and said:
“Steve, I owe my life to you. I don’t know how I’ll ever pay the debt.”
“Say no more about it. We’re no more than even, mate. Them hounds are
safe now. They’re shut in, and we’re shut out.”
“Is the trail entirely blocked?”
“Yes; entirely. They are all in Nick’s Cavern, where there is enough
feed for man and beast kept all the time to last for months. It is shut
in every way now.”
“Good! Then they can’t get out?”
“No, but you can’t get in.”
“We’ll see! They went in, and so will I.”
“But they’ll get to the top of the cliff over us, and make it too hot
for us here.”
“Will they? Then we’ll make it too hot for them there. If they can
shoot at us, we can return the fire. If I see a gun flash, lead will go
very near where I see that flash.”
“If you hurt any of them, they’ll murder the prisoners.”
“How are we to know they have not done that already? I tell you what it
is, Steve--I’ve done fooling! I have not come this far to go back with
my hands down, leaving them here to crow. They’ve got to be wiped out.”
“It will be a hard job!”
“Then I’m just in for it. Here comes Captain Meinhold. What shall I
tell him?”
“That you’ve holed your game, but diggin’ for it in a rock will be hard
work.”
“Well--why don’t we go on?” asked the captain, who had not been able to
hold the wild pace that Buffalo Bill had kept for a few miles back.
“Rocks caved in our way, and the enemy caved in behind them,” said
Buffalo Bill.
“Can you see them?”
“No, but I hear them,” said Buffalo Bill, as a bullet flattened against
a rock within a foot of his head. “If you’ll get under cover, we’ll
talk with Steve here and see what we can do.”
“I don’t like this,” said the captain, as they fell back a little to
where some rocks and trees sheltered them partially. From away up in
the cliff, out of sight of them, a fusillade was now opened which made
it necessary for all hands to take cover.
Two wounded men, a scout and a soldier, proclaimed this necessity.
“Is there no way of getting in and making a charge?” asked the captain.
“Hand to hand, saber and revolver, I’ll risk meeting them three to one!”
“Just about the odds, I reckon, captain, but the getting in is the
question. There is a passage in and out, besides the one they’ve filled
up, where a man can creep, but not where horses can go. But only Bill
Harkness and two more know anything about it. It was always kept from
the rest for fear of treachery at a time like this,” said Hathaway.
“It can and must be found,” said Buffalo Bill. “I’m going to look for
it.”
The brave scout handed his Remington to Steve.
“Take care of it,” said he. “If I don’t get in there, I shan’t need
it any more. If I do--I’ll make music with it when they’re on the run
among the hills.”
Buffalo Bill started out, determined to climb the cliff. But the
instant he was seen near the face of the rock bullets rained at him.
That Providence which seems ever to shelter and protect the bravest
when cowards fall must have shielded his breast, for he was evidently a
target for at least twenty marksmen.
Coolly he dropped back.
“Climbing just now in the face of a leaden hailstorm isn’t in my line.
But I’ve got the dot on one fellow. I’ll take the rifle again, Steve.”
Hathaway handed over the rifle to him.
The latter went on to tell Steve that he had seen one gun flash from
the limb of a pine which almost overhung the spot where they had first
stood.
“I’m going to creep for him,” said Buffalo Bill. “If I can get him
between me and the sky, he’ll be dead meat after my rifle sings her
song.”
The scout crept from rock to rock under the bushes for some little
time, while the scouts and soldiers kept the men above occupied, for
the former fired every time they saw a gun flash.
This shooting, however, was entirely at random, and there was no
certainty of their hitting a man.
But when the border king’s rifle was heard to crack at last, almost
simultaneous with the report came a shriek of agony.
“Buffalo Bill first, last, and forever!” shouted Wild Bill. “Did you
hear that wild cat howl? He’ll not keep his den in them rocks any more.
I reckon he’s gone up!”
“No--he came down, like Captain Scott’s coon!” said Buffalo Bill, who
now crept back. “I let him down out of that tree nicely. But he fell on
the bank above. I was in hopes he’d drop over!”
The firing was still kept up, though it was now quite dark, but
apparently to no effect, except to show that powder was plentiful on
both sides.