Western BUFFALO BILL
Stories About
ALL BY COL. PRENTISS INGRAHAM
Red-blooded Adventure Stories for Men
There is no more romantic character in American history than William F.
Cody, or, as he was internationally known, Buffalo Bill. He, with
Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, Wild Bill Hicock, General Custer, and a few
other adventurous spirits, laid the foundation of our great West.
There is no more brilliant page in American history than the winning of
the West. Never did pioneers live more thrilling lives, so rife with
adventure and brave deeds, as the old scouts and plainsmen. Foremost
among these stands the imposing figure of Buffalo Bill.
All of the books in this list are intensely interesting. They were
written by the close friend and companion of Buffalo Bill—Colonel
Prentiss Ingraham. They depict actual adventures which this pair of
hard-hitting comrades experienced, while the story of these adventures
is interwoven with fiction; historically the books are correct.
ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT
51—Buffalo Bill, Dead Shot 132—Buffalo Bill’s Tangled Clew
52—Buffalo Bill’s Buckskin Bravos 133—Buffalo Bill’s Wolf Skin
53—Buffalo Bill’s Big Four 134—Buffalo Bill’s Twice Four
Puzzle
54—Buffalo Bill’s One-armed Pard 135—Buffalo Bill and the Devil Bird
55—Buffalo Bill’s Race for Life 136—Buffalo Bill and the Indian’s
Mascot
56—Buffalo Bill’s Return 137—Buffalo Bill Entrapped
57—Buffalo Bill’s Conquest 138—Buffalo Bill’s Totem Trail
58—Buffalo Bill to the Rescue 139—Buffalo Bill at Fort Challis
59—Buffalo Bill’s Beautiful Foe 140—Buffalo Bill’s Determination
60—Buffalo Bill’s Perilous Task 141—Buffalo Bill’s Battle Axe
61—Buffalo Bill’s Queer Find 142—Buffalo Bill’s Game with Fate
62—Buffalo Bill’s Blind Lead 143—Buffalo Bill’s Comanche Raid
63—Buffalo Bill’s Resolution 144—Buffalo Bill’s Aerial Island
64—Buffalo Bill, the Avenger 145—Buffalo Bill’s Lucky Shot
65—Buffalo Bill’s Pledged Pard 146—Buffalo Bill’s Sioux Friends
66—Buffalo Bill’s Weird Warning 147—Buffalo Bill’s Supreme Test
67—Buffalo Bill’s Wild Ride 148—Buffalo Bill’s Boldest Strike
68—Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Stampede 149—Buffalo Bill and the Red Hand
69—Buffalo Bill’s Mine Mystery 150—Buffalo Bill’s Dance with Death
70—Buffalo Bill’s Gold Hunt 151—Buffalo Bill’s Running Fight
71—Buffalo Bill’s Daring Dash 152—Buffalo Bill in Harness
72—Buffalo Bill on Hand 153—Buffalo Bill Corralled
73—Buffalo Bill’s Alliance 154—Buffalo Bill’s Waif of the West
74—Buffalo Bill’s Relentless Foe 155—Buffalo Bill’s Wizard Pard
75—Buffalo Bill’s Midnight Ride 156—Buffalo Bill and Hawkeye
76—Buffalo Bill’s Chivalry 157—Buffalo Bill and Grizzly Dan
77—Buffalo Bill’s Girl Pard 158—Buffalo Bill’s Ghost Play
78—Buffalo Bill’s Private War 159—Buffalo Bill’s Lost Prisoner
79—Buffalo Bill’s Diamond Mine 160—Buffalo Bill and The Klan of
Kau
80—Buffalo Bill’s Big Contract 161—Buffalo Bill’s Crow Scouts
81—Buffalo Bill’s Woman Foe 162—Buffalo Bill’s Lassoed Spectre
82—Buffalo Bill’s Ruse 163—Buffalo Bill and the Wanderers
83—Buffalo Bill’s Pursuit 164—Buffalo Bill and the White
Queen
84—Buffalo Bill’s Hidden Gold 165—Buffalo Bill’s Yellow Guardian
85—Buffalo Bill in Mid-air 166—Buffalo Bill’s Double “B” Brand
86—Buffalo Bill’s Queer Mission 167—Buffalo Bill’s Dangerous Duty
87—Buffalo Bill’s Verdict 168—Buffalo Bill and the Talking
Statue
88—Buffalo Bill’s Ordeal 169—Buffalo Bill Between Two Fires
89—Buffalo Bill’s Camp Fires 170—Buffalo Bill and the Giant
Apache
90—Buffalo Bill’s Iron Nerve 171—Buffalo Bill’s Best Bet
91—Buffalo Bill’s Rival 172—Buffalo Bill’s Blockhouse Siege
92—Buffalo Bill’s Lone Hand 173—Buffalo Bill’s Fight for Right
93—Buffalo Bill’s Sacrifice 174—Buffalo Bill’s Sad Tidings
94—Buffalo Bill’s Thunderbolt 175—Buffalo Bill and “Lucky” Benson
95—Buffalo Bill’s Black Fortune 176—Buffalo Bill Among the Sioux
96—Buffalo Bill’s Wild Work 177—Buffalo Bill’s Mystery Box
97—Buffalo Bill’s Yellow Trail 178—Buffalo Bill’s Worst Tangle
98—Buffalo Bill’s Treasure Train 179—Buffalo Bill’s Clean Sweep
99—Buffalo Bill’s Bowie Duel 180—Buffalo Bill’s Texas Tangle
100—Buffalo Bill’s Mystery Man 181—Buffalo Bill and the Nihilists
101—Buffalo Bill’s Bold Play 182—Buffalo Bill’s Emigrant Trail
102—Buffalo Bill: Peacemaker 183—Buffalo Bill at Close Quarters
103—Buffalo Bill’s Big Surprise 184—Buffalo Bill and the Cattle
Thieves
104—Buffalo Bill’s Barricade 185—Buffalo Bill at Cimaroon Bar
105—Buffalo Bill’s Test 186—Buffalo Bill’s Ingenuity
106—Buffalo Bill’s Powwow 187—Buffalo Bill on a Cold Trail
107—Buffalo Bill’s Stern Justice 188—Buffalo Bill’s Red Hot Totem
108—Buffalo Bill’s Mysterious 189—Buffalo Bill Under a War Cloud
Friend
109—Buffalo Bill and the Boomers 190—Buffalo Bill and the Prophet
110—Buffalo Bill’s Panther Fight 191—Buffalo Bill and the Red
Renegade
111—Buffalo Bill and the Overland 192—Buffalo Bill’s Mailed Fist
112—Buffalo Bill on the Deadwood 193—Buffalo Bill’s Round-up
Trail
113—Buffalo Bill in Apache Land 194—Buffalo Bill’s Death Message
114—Buffalo Bill’s Blindfold Duel 195—Buffalo Bill’s Redskin Disguise
115—Buffalo Bill and the Lone 196—Buffalo Bill, the Whirlwind
Camper
116—Buffalo Bill’s Merry War 197—Buffalo Bill in Death Valley
117—Buffalo Bill’s Star Play 198—Buffalo Bill and the Magic
Button
118—Buffalo Bill’s War Cry 199—Buffalo Bill’s Friend in Need
119—Buffalo Bill on Black Panther’s 200—Buffalo Bill with General
Trail Custer
120—Buffalo Bill’s Slim Chance 201—Buffalo Bill’s Timely Meeting
121—Buffalo Bill Besieged 202—Buffalo Bill and the Skeleton
Scout
122—Buffalo Bill’s Bandit Round-up 203—Buffalo Bill’s Flag of Truce
123—Buffalo Bill’s Surprise Party 204—Buffalo Bill’s Pacific Power
124—Buffalo Bill’s Lightning Raid 205—Buffalo Bill’s Impersonator
125—Buffalo Bill in Mexico 206—Buffalo Bill and the Red
Marauders
126—Buffalo Bill’s Traitor Foe 207—Buffalo Bill’s Long Run
127—Buffalo Bill’s Tireless Chase 208—Buffalo Bill and Red Dove
128—Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler 209—Buffalo Bill on the Box
129—Buffalo Bill’s Sure Guess 210—Buffalo Bill’s Bravo Partner
130—Buffalo Bill’s Record Jump 211—Buffalo Bill’s Strange Task
131—Buffalo Bill in the Land of
Dread
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TALES OF THE ROLLING PLAINS
Great Western Library
By COL. PRENTISS INGRAHAM and W. B. LAWSON
Thrilling Adventure
For many years we have been urged by readers who like Western stories to
publish some tales about the adventures of Diamond Dick. Therefore, we
decided to have a new series of stories based upon the adventures of
this famous Western character, and to put them in a line called GREAT
WESTERN LIBRARY, together with stories about Buffalo Bill, by Col.
Prentiss Ingraham.
Thus, in this line two of the most famous of all American characters
join hands. The so-called society stories with a kick in them come and
go, but these clean, wholesome tales of the West give a clean-cut
picture of the lives and characters of the men who carried the advance
banners of civilization westward.
There are Indian stories, cowboy stories, outlaw stories, all sorts of
stories of adventures out West. Each one is clean and decent, even if it
is thrilling.
ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT
In order that there may be no confusion, we desire to say that the books
listed below will be issued during the respective months in New York
City and vicinity. They may not reach the readers at a distance
promptly, on account of delays in transportation.
To be published in January, 1927.
1—Diamond Dick’s Own Brand By W. B. Lawson
2—Buffalo Bill’s Honor By Col. Prentiss Ingraham
To be published in February, 1927.
3—Diamond Dick’s Maverick By W. B. Lawson
4—Buffalo Bill’s Phantom Hunt By Col. Prentiss Ingraham
To be published in March, 1927.
5—Diamond Dick’s Man Hunt By W. B. Lawson
6—Buffalo Bill’s Fight with Fire By Col. Prentiss Ingraham
To be published in April, 1927.
7—Diamond Dick’s Danger Signal By W. B. Lawson
8—Buffalo Bill’s Danite Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham
To be published in May, 1927.
9—Diamond Dick’s Prospect By W. B. Lawson
10—Buffalo Bill’s Ranch Riders By Col. Prentiss Ingraham
To be published in June, 1927.
11—Diamond Dick and the Gold Bugs By W. B. Lawson
12—Buffalo Bill’s Death Trail By Col. Prentiss Ingraham
13—Diamond Dick at Comet City By W. B. Lawson
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE THE NEW TITLES LISTED
Western Story Library
ALL BY EDWARD C. TAYLOR
For Everyone Who Likes Adventure
Ted Strong and his band of broncho-busters have most exciting adventures
in this line of attractive big books, and furnish the reader with an
almost unlimited number of thrills.
If you like a really good Western cowboy story, then this line is made
expressly for you.
ALL TITLES ALWAYS IN PRINT
1—Ted Strong, Cowboy 23—Ted Strong’s Justice
2—Ted Strong Among the Cattlemen 24—Ted Strong’s Treasure
3—Ted Strong’s Black Mountain Ranch 25—Ted Strong’s Search
4—Ted Strong With Rifle and Lasso 26—Ted Strong’s Diamond Mine
5—Ted Strong Lost in the Desert 27—Ted Strong’s Manful Task
6—Ted Strong Fighting the Rustlers 28—Ted Strong, Manager
7—Ted Strong and the Rival Miners 29—Ted Strong’s Man Hunt
8—Ted Strong and the Last of the 30—Ted Strong’s Gold Mine
Herd
9—Ted Strong on a Mountain Trail 31—Ted Strong’s Broncho Boys
10—Ted Strong Across the Prairie 32—Ted Strong’s Wild Horse
11—Ted Strong Out For Big Game 33—Ted Strong’s Tenderfoot
12—Ted Strong Challenged 34—Ted Strong’s Stowaway
13—Ted Strong’s Close Call 35—Ted Strong’s Prize Herd
14—Ted Strong’s Passport 36—Ted Strong’s Trouble
15—Ted Strong’s Nebraska Ranch 37—Ted Strong’s Mettle
16—Ted Strong’s Cattle Drive 38—Ted Strong’s Big Business
17—Ted Strong’s Stampede 39—Ted Strong’s Treasure Cave
18—Ted Strong’s Prairie Trail 40—Ted Strong’s Vanishing Island
19—Ted Strong’s Surprise 41—Ted Strong’s Motor Car
20—Ted Strong’s Wolf Hunters 42—Ted Strong in Montana
21—Ted Strong’s Crooked Trail 43—Ted Strong’s Contract
22—Ted Strong in Colorado
----------
We have arranged with the author, Edward C. Taylor, to continue the
stories, and the following, therefore, are new stories, right up to the
minute. They are going to make a big hit, for we have abundant proof in
the way of letters that readers of paper books are strong for Ted
Strong.
----------
In order that there may be no confusion, we desire to say that the books
listed below will be issued during the respective months in New York
City and vicinity. They may not reach the readers at a distance
promptly, on account of delays in transportation.
To be published in January, 1927.
44—Ted Strong’s Stolen Pinto 45—Ted Strong’s Saddle Pard
To be published in February, 1927.
46—Ted Strong and the Sioux 47—Ted Strong’s Bronchos
Players
To be published in March, 1927.
48—Ted Strong’s Ranch War 49—Ted Strong and the Cattle
Raiders
To be published in April, 1927.
50—Ted Strong’s Great Round-up 51—Ted Strong’s Big Horn Trail
To be published in May, 1927.
52—Ted Strong in Bandit Cañon 53—Ted Strong at Z-Bar Ranch
54—Ted Strong’s Cattle Feud
To be published in June, 1927.
55—Ted Strong’s Border Battle 56—Ted Strong on U. P. Duty
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Buffalo Bill’s Death Message
OR,
IN THE FACE OF DOOM
BY
Colonel Prentiss Ingraham
Author of the celebrated “Buffalo Bill” stories, published in the
BORDER STORIES. For other titles see catalogue.
STREET & SMITH CORPORATION
PUBLISHERS
79–89 Seventh Avenue, New York
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright, 1907
By STREET & SMITH
-------
Buffalo Bill’s Death Message
(Printed in the United States of America)
All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign
languages, including the Scandinavian.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY
(BUFFALO BILL).
-------
It is now some generations since Josh Billings, Ned Buntline, and
Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, intimate friends of Colonel William F. Cody,
used to forgather in the office of Francis S. Smith, then proprietor of
the New York Weekly. It was a dingy little office on Rose Street, New
York, but the breath of the great outdoors stirred there when these
old-timers got together. As a result of these conversations, Colonel
Ingraham and Ned Buntline began to write of the adventures of Buffalo
Bill for Street & Smith.
Colonel Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa, February 26, 1846. Before
he had reached his teens, his father, Isaac Cody, with his mother and
two sisters, migrated to Kansas, which at that time was little more than
a wilderness.
When the elder Cody was killed shortly afterward in the Kansas “Border
War,” young Bill assumed the difficult rôle of family breadwinner.
During 1860, and until the outbreak of the Civil War, Cody lived the
arduous life of a pony-express rider. Cody volunteered his services as
government scout and guide and served throughout the Civil War with
Generals McNeil and A. J. Smith. He was a distinguished member of the
Seventh Kansas Cavalry.
During the Civil War, while riding through the streets of St. Louis,
Cody rescued a frightened schoolgirl from a band of annoyers. In true
romantic style, Cody and Louisa Federci, the girl, were married March 6,
1866.
In 1867 Cody was employed to furnish a specified amount of buffalo meat
to the construction men at work on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. It was
in this period that he received the sobriquet “Buffalo Bill.”
In 1868 and for four years thereafter Colonel Cody served as scout and
guide in campaigns against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. It was
General Sheridan who conferred on Cody the honor of chief of scouts of
the command.
After completing a period of service in the Nebraska legislature, Cody
joined the Fifth Cavalry in 1876, and was again appointed chief of
scouts.
Colonel Cody’s fame had reached the East long before, and a great many
New Yorkers went out to see him and join in his buffalo hunts, including
such men as August Belmont, James Gordon Bennett, Anson Stager, and J.
G. Heckscher. In entertaining these visitors at Fort McPherson, Cody was
accustomed to arrange wild-West exhibitions. In return his friends
invited him to visit New York. It was upon seeing his first play in the
metropolis that Cody conceived the idea of going into the show business.
Assisted by Ned Buntline, novelist, and Colonel Ingraham, he started his
“Wild West” show, which later developed and expanded into “A Congress of
the Rough-riders of the World,” first presented at Omaha, Nebraska. In
time it became a familiar yearly entertainment in the great cities of
this country and Europe. Many famous personages attended the
performances, and became his warm friends, including Mr. Gladstone, the
Marquis of Lorne, King Edward, Queen Victoria, and the Prince of Wales,
now King of England.
At the outbreak of the Sioux, in 1890 and 1891, Colonel Cody served at
the head of the Nebraska National Guard. In 1895 Cody took up the
development of Wyoming Valley by introducing irrigation. Not long
afterward he became judge advocate general of the Wyoming National
Guard.
Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) died in Denver, Colorado, on January 10,
1917. His legacy to a grateful world was a large share in the
development of the West, and a multitude of achievements in
horsemanship, marksmanship, and endurance that will live for ages. His
life will continue to be a leading example of the manliness, courage,
and devotion to duty that belonged to a picturesque phase of American
life now passed, like the great patriot whose career it typified, into
the Great Beyond.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. MYSTERIOUS LETTERS. 9
II. KLAMATH JOHN’S MESSAGE. 17
III. BUFFALO BILL DECIDES. 26
IV. DOWN THE CAÑON. 32
V. THROUGH THE TUNNEL. 39
VI. ON THE UNDERGROUND RIVER. 47
VII. SKULL AND CROSSBONES. 53
VIII. THE PRISONER. 60
IX. THE PRISONER’S ESCAPE. 68
X. DANGER AND DARING. 75
XI. THE RETREAT. 85
XII. RED REYNARD’S PLANS. 89
XIII. SURPRISING DISCOVERIES. 97
XIV. ASSAULT AND BATTERY. 102
XV. THE BEWITCHED COMPASS. 114
XVI. TRACKS IN THE SAND. 123
XVII. THE SPOTS OF LIGHT. 129
XVIII. THE PARTY WITH THE HELIOGRAPH. 136
XIX. A STARTLING ATTACK. 141
XX. ANOTHER SURPRISE. 147
XXI. FURTHER SURPRISES. 154
XXII. MORE DISCOVERIES. 161
XXIII. AN AMAZING DISCLOSURE. 170
XXIV. UNSELFISH HEROISM. 178
XXV. A HEROIC EFFORT. 186
XXVI. INDIANS AND PRISONERS. 192
XXVII. THE AZTEC SLAVES. 198
XXVIII. THE ESCAPE. 206
XXIX. AN ENIGMATICAL HOST. 216
XXX. THE GOLDEN DAGGER. 227
XXXI. AGAIN IN DANGER. 236
XXXII. THE MYSTERY OF THE DAGGER. 242
XXXIII. A STRANGE MESSAGE. 249
XXXIV. FACING DEATH. 256
XXXV. ENOS SPALDING. 262
XXXVI. HEMMED IN. 272
XXXVII. AT THE SAN PAZ HACIENDA. 282
XXXVIII. THE PRISONER OF THE TOWER. 289
XXXIX. A PERILOUS CLIMB. 295
XL. A PERILOUS POSITION. 301
XLI. MUSIC HATH CHARMS. 312
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BUFFALO BILL’S DEATH MESSAGE.
---------------------------------------------------------
CHAPTER I.
MYSTERIOUS LETTERS.
A singular tapping on the door of his room awoke Buffalo Bill, who was
in the St. Cloud Hotel, in the town of Klamath, which was about as near
to the “jumping-off place” of civilization as one could get without
going over the boundary.
The wary scout remained quietly in bed when he heard the tapping, his
only movement being to clutch the revolver he had placed under his
pillow on retiring for the night.
The room was as dark as a “stack of black cats,” and he knew that
complete darkness reigned outside, or a little light would have reached
him through the window.
The tapping was repeated at intervals for the better part of five
minutes, then there was a resounding thump on the panel of the door.
Shortly after that the scout heard soft footsteps moving away, and when
the footsteps ceased to sound, he struck a match cautiously, and looked
at his watch.
“Four o’clock!” he said. “Just the darkest hour before dawn. Daylight
will be here in a little while.”
He blew out the match, and lay back quietly on his pillow, listening.
Not so much as a rat now stirred.
“I wonder what that meant?” was his thought. “Well, I’m not anxious
enough to know to run risks in trying to find out. Some rascal might
have wanted to assassinate me. There’s no telling.”
Klamath was notorious for its desperadoes at that time, and Buffalo Bill
was pretty sure that more than one man in the town would be glad to take
his life.
“If any one is really anxious to see me,” was his thought, “let him come
to me in broad daylight. This is no hour for an interview, and the thing
didn’t look honest.”
He was out of bed as soon as the dawn came, and after hastily dressing,
he took his revolver and tiptoed to the door. He more than half expected
to discover that an assassin lurked in the big hall.
But when he opened the door, he was surprised in another way.
Pinned to the panel was a folded sheet of paper, held in place by a
slender gold stick pin driven into the wood. The head of the stick pin
was a representation of a skull and crossbones.
The resounding thump on the door had been made when this singular pin
had been driven in to hold the paper in place.
Buffalo Bill looked curiously at the pin, and then spread open the
paper, which he saw was a sheet of writing. This he proceeded to read:
“BUFFALO BILL: I want to have a talk with you about
something very important. I knocked on your door, and you
wasn’t in, or wouldn’t answer. Meet me to-night, at eight
o’clock, at the foot of the big poplar that hangs over the
river at the upper bend, about half a mile from here. The
place is called Poplar Bend. Don’t fail. This is as
important to you as to me, and more so. Your friend,
“KLAMATH JOHN.”
While Buffalo Bill was reading this and inspecting the queer gold pin,
he heard himself addressed. His negro servant, Cudjo, was approaching
along the hall, Cudjo having spent the night in the servants’ quarters
below stairs.
“Marse Cody, you is up ter’ble early dis mawnin’!” Cudjo remarked,
showing his ivories. “How you reckon I’m gwine to git to black yo’
boots, befo’ you puts ’em on, ef you’s gwine to put ’em on befo’ I done
wakes up? I ’lowed, tired as you was las’ night, dat dis mawnin’ you’d
sleep as sound’s a possum. And heah you is, awake befo’ I is. Hit’s
plum’ reedic’lus an’ scan’lous.”
Cudjo felt privileged to scold his master now and then, though his
chidings were always so good-natured that they had no sharp edge. He
swung his tongue with so much freedom, perhaps, for the reason that he
owed his life to Buffalo Bill; there seemed to be no other excuse.
Two months before, he had been a train porter, on a wild mountain route
where holdups were not infrequent. Buffalo Bill had been a passenger on
the train one night when a holdup came. Cudjo did not move quickly
enough to suit the robbers, and one of them knocked him down and would
have shot him, when a bullet from the pistol of the fearless scout put
the outlaw out of business. The next moment Buffalo Bill fell, shot
through the shoulder, in retaliation, by one of the outlaws.
Cudjo resigned his position and nursed the gallant scout until he
recovered from the effects of the bullet wound, after which he became,
for a time, Buffalo Bill’s personal servant, and was now with him in the
lawless border town of Klamath.
“See here!” said the scout, and he displayed the letter and the gold
pin. “Take a look at these.”
Cudjo’s face seemed to become a shade whiter through pallor when he
looked at that queer stick pin.
“Did you ever see anything like that before?” Buffalo Bill asked.
“I has, Marse Cody, and I don’t want to see um ag’in. Dat’s des like de
pin de car robber wore what shot you dat time. Des like it!”
The scout gave Cudjo the note to read.
“You is a dead man, Marse Cody, if you goes to dat place. Keep away f’m
it. Dis is a trick.”
Buffalo Bill stayed away from Poplar Bend that evening, and also the
next.
Because of this, no doubt, at about the hour of four in the morning he
again heard that peculiar tapping on the door of his room. As before, he
listened quietly, clutched his revolver, and said nothing. The singular
thump on the panel sounded again, and again he heard footsteps moving
softly away.
When he opened the door, at daylight, he found another message pinned to
it, with one of those queer gold pins, a message which again asked him
to meet the writer at Poplar Bend, assuring him that it concerned a
matter of the utmost importance to him, as well as to the one who wrote
the note.
When this happened the third morning, the gold pin and the pinned paper
were discovered before the scout arose by a young Irishman named Michael
Flynn—called Mike or Mickey—who occupied the room next to him.
“Begobs!” roared Flynn, hammering on the scout’s door, “the United
States gover’mint has sthruck a quare sthreak in deliverin’ its
letthers, so it has. Will ye obsarve this wan, Misther Cody? Here’s a
letther fer ye, lift by the postman on yer dure, and hammered in wid a
gold pin. It’s that rich the gover’mint is growin’ that it throws in
gold pins widout cost whin it delivers letthers. ’Tis a gr-reat
counthry! Will yez git up and see the letther?”
Buffalo Bill hurried into his clothing, and opened the door for Flynn.
“Come in, Mike!” he invited. “That’s the third letter of the kind which
has been stuck on my door. What do you think it means? Read it and then
tell me what you make of it. Remember, I’ve had two others like it.”
Flynn read the letter, which was identical with the other two received
by the scout.
“And the pin?” said the scout. “Take a look at it.”
“It’s a quare wan,” said Flynn, “but I’m guessin’ it’s gold. I’ll l’ave
you to shpake the m’anin’ av it.”
Cudjo appeared in the hall, and came in, as the door was open. His eyes
rounded with awe and fright when he discovered that a third letter had
been received.
“I’ve no idea who this fellow is who calls himself Klamath John,” said
the scout, “but I’ve suspected a trap.”
“Whoosh! A trap, is it? Thin I’d trap _him_.”
“You would?”
“Shure, an’ I would. If ye want to thry it, I’m in wid ye.”
Flynn’s face flushed even redder than was its natural wont, by reason of
the thought that came to him.
“It’s the iligant chance,” he went on. “An’ it’s like what I’ve been
wantin’, ye see. I towlt yez about it. Whin I left the grane sod, says I
to mesilf, says I, ‘There’s niver a chance anny more fer a man in
Ireland!’ An’ it was the thruth I shpoke. ‘Ameriky, the land av the
free, an’ the home av the br-rave, is the land f’r me,’ says I. ‘There a
man can shtand up f’r his rights,’ says I, ‘an’ can crack a head when he
sees wan,’ I says, ‘an’ it’s the land fer me.’
“But here I’ve been six months, and not a shindy comin’ my way. Barrin’
a fight or two wid pistols, I ain’t sane anny fightin’ at all, an’ they
towlt me this town was filled wid fightin’ min and the rarest fightin’
undher the sun. But it’s a lie. There ain’t no fightin’. It’s jist pull
a gun, and down yer man goes on his back in the sthrate, dead as a dure
nail. I don’t call that fightin’, I call that murdher.
“And now here comes the chance f’r me. There’s a brave hint av advinture
in thim letthers, as I can see. I’m wid yez in it. The man is thryin’ to
trap yez, mebbe. Say that he is. So much the betther. Thrap him. And
Mickey Flynn is the b’y that will help ye.”
Flynn became boisterously enthusiastic, as he thus outlined his
thoughts. But Cudjo failed to share his enthusiasm.
“What ef _you_ is de man dat’s killed?” he asked.
“If yez are, hope that it’ll be quick. And if ye’re only wounded, pray
to the saints that ye may have stringth to bear it. But what’s life
widout the ixcitement av danger? It’s a shtale soup, widout anny pepper
in it. None av it f’r me! Yez can have it. But it’s not to be ixpicted
that a nagur would fale the same as an Irishman.”
Cudjo’s black eyes glittered. “Who’s a nigger?” he said testily.
“Onderstand dat I is a cullud ge’men, suh! I done been a car po’ter,
suh! Ef you has any oncompliments to hand roun’, don’t hand um dis way.
I’m ’bleegd to incline um.”
Buffalo Bill smiled. “I agree with Mike,” he remarked. “If that man is
trying to draw me into a trap, we may be able to turn the tables on him.
Anyway, I’d like to know the meaning of these letters. My curiosity is
excited. He’s persistent, for this is his third letter.”
Mike looked curiously at the gold pin.
“He must be moighty rich,” he observed, “to be flingin’ his gold about
in this way, I’m thinkin’. An’ a quare pin it is. Luk at it.”
Buffalo Bill took the other gold pins from his pocketbook, and laid all
three in the palm of his hand for inspection.
“Des like de one what dat car robber wore fo’ a breast pin,” said Cudjo.
“I don’t want to see de man what has um. Dat man is a robber, and mebbe
wuss’n dat. If Marse Cody axes my devices, I’m ‘bleeged to tell him to
stay away f’um de place whar dat man says to come. Stay plum’ away f’um
it. We’se safe heah in dis hotel. What’s de use tuh be runnin’ into
undnecessary danger? Dem’s my sembliments.”
Nevertheless, Buffalo Bill prepared to “trap the trapper,” if the latter
proved to be playing a treacherous game, and to find out just what those
singular messages meant.
Flynn’s adventurous blood went to the boiling point when he heard the
decision.
“You’re a courageous man, Misther Cody!” he said, by way of compliment.
That was a discovery to Michael Flynn, perhaps, yet the real men of the
West had known for many years that there was not on the whole Western
border a man of more true and genuine courage than Buffalo Bill, the
famous border scout.
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