A KINDLY WARNING.
In spite of his repeated potations, Slocum walked as straight as he
had ever walked in his life, as he took his way along the street to
Hargous’ livery stable, where he kept a shaggy Indian pony, noted for
its fleetness and untiring endurance.
Bug-eye Slocum had been a cowboy in his younger days, and he declared
that he could not live unless he stretched his legs over the back
of a horse at least once a day. He nearly always rode forth alone,
presumably for a jaunt over the prairies or through the near-by
hills; where he went he seldom told, and people did not question.
He rode forth again, as usual, this afternoon, waving his hand to
the people he met in the streets, a hand waving that had an air
of patronage and condescension, though Bug-eye was half the time
in disreputable rags, and the man patronized thus might have been
dressed in the best of clothing.
As soon as he had left the town behind him Bug-eye drove the pony
into a sharp gallop that carried him on for a mile or two and sank
the town out of sight behind him. Then he drew rein, and looked
carefully about.
Not observing any one in sight, he wheeled sharply to the right, rode
into a depression that cut through the level land here, and headed
for the hills.
When within the hills and not to be seen by any one chancing to be
out on the prairie, he changed his course again, and galloped on for
a mile or two farther.
Here, in a depression between the hills, he drew rein once again, and
sat apparently waiting for some one.
Hoof falls soon sounded, and several horsemen appeared.
The foremost was a tall, handsome-looking man, wearing a mustache
and imperial, his get-up and clothing causing him to resemble in a
remarkable manner Buffalo Bill. Even the real Buffalo Bill’s closest
friends would have mistaken this rascal for him at a short distance,
and would certainly have made the mistake at night even, if close
by him. Naturally resembling the great scout in many particulars,
he had by carefully growing a mustache and imperial of the style
worn by Buffalo Bill, and then wearing clothing of the same pattern,
still further heightened the rather remarkable likeness. But while
thus outwardly resembling the scout, he was otherwise a man of such
different character that he was now playing this despicable part.
“Hello, Slocum!” he called, with a wave of his hand; and then he
lifted his hat in the Buffalo Bill manner, with a graceful and
gracious bow.
“Does yer ears burn?” asked Slocum.
“Not that I’m knowing to,” said the man.
“Well, ’tain’t true, then, ther sayin’ that if people is talkin’
about ye, yer ears will burn hot like fire; fer yer name has been
used most tremendous hard this afternoon, as I’m knowin’ to, havin’
had a hand somewhat in usin’ it myself.”
“My name?”
“Well, not yer real name; and come to think of it, maybe that’s why
the thing didn’t make yer ears burn. They was talkin’ about ther
things you’ve been doing, but ther name used was Buffalo Bill.”
“I am Buffalo Bill!”
“You’re the man they was talkin’ about, anyway. And I was boostin’
ther thing along.”
He looked hard at the big man, and at the latter’s followers, who now
crowded round him.
“What’s the news, Slocum?” the man asked.
“Well, they’ve organized a vigilantes committee fer ter hang ye
soon’s you put foot in ther town; and I’ve rid forth ter tell ye
about it, so’s you won’t git caught too easy.”
“To hang me?”
“That’s what ther vigilantes was organized fer, and they----”
“And you was in it?”
“But I’m explainin’, Panther Pete, and----”
“Stop!” The command was shot out like a bullet from a gun.
Bug-eye Slocum stopped as suddenly as if he had been cut down by a
rifle bullet.
“What is it?” he gasped, his mouth open, looking nervously at the
chief, who was fingering a revolver.
“It’s that name--Panther Pete! Use that again, any time or anywhere,
and I’ll pump a bullet straight through you. You know me--I’m Buffalo
Bill!”
“Ye--yes!” stammered Bug-eye. “I knowed it, only I forgot.”
“Fergittin’ ain’t healthy where I am, when any friend o’ mine uses
that name. I’ve shed it like a snake sheds its skin; and I’ve taken
on a new skin, and----”
“And a rattlesnake’s bite, after it has shed its skin, is as pizen as
before,” said Bug-eye, trying to be humorous, though his nerves were
shaking. “I didn’t mean no offense, nohow.”
“Well, don’t use it ag’in!”
“I won’t; I’ll remember.”
“You bring news of the formation of a vigilantes committee that’s
goin’ to get after me.”
“They only think they aire,” said Bug-eye, waving his hand
impressively, for the oratorical habit was strong on him. “They think
they’re goin’ ter git after ther fake Buffalo Bill that’s makin’ the
trouble in this section; but I’ve got ther mine laid which will shoot
’em into ther real Buffalo Bill.”
“How’s that?”
“Yer see, it’s this way: Ther real Buffalo Bill is comin’.”
“Is that so? That’s important. When did you hear it?”
“I heard it last night--got ther news by grape-vine telegraph;
otherwise, it was brought me secretly by Jim Welch, ther stage
driver. He heard it over near Fort Cimarron. Seems that Buffalo Bill
has got wind of ther things that’s goin’ on over in this section,
and ther way his name and reppertation is bein’ fly-blown on, as ye
may say, and he’s comin’ over ter see about it.
“I knowed at once that would queer your little game, Pan--I mean
Buffalo Bill”--he dodged as if he expected a bullet--“and so as soon
as ther thing had been done I hiked out here ter tell ye about it and
give ye warnin’.”
“Yes, I see.”
“We’re goin’ ter hang the real Buffalo Bill soon’s he strikes ther
town. Rainey and me got up ther scheme, and it’s a handsome one, if I
do say it; and it will put William F. Cody nicely under the daisies.”
“Yes, I see.”
“And when he’s out o’ ther way, there won’t be so durned much
danger fer fellers like you and me what has ter make our livin’ by
workin’ ther public in one way and another. But, of course, ther
vigilantes, except two or three more in addition ter me and Rainey,
don’t understand that, and we don’t want ’em to; they don’t know
nothin’ about there bein’ two Buffalo Bills. And so we’ll bag him as
soon as he hits ther town. And then he dances hornpipes on the thin
atmosphere, and it’s all over with him, and we gits peace out here
fer a while fer men of our stripe. I calls it a handsome plan, and
so does Rainey. And so does Poker Dan, the gambler. We three really
’riginated and developed the scheme, and it’s a dandy. We didn’t want
you to walk into the trap, and maybe have ther vigilantes hang you;
and so, as I said, I rid fer this p’int, with this here warning.”
“I thank you for that, anyway, Slocum. When will Buffalo Bill be
here?”
“That’s what we don’t know,” said Slocum, observing that Panther
Pete’s followers pressed forward to hear what he said.
“I knew he’d come sooner or later, Bug-eye; this business was sure to
reach him. And I wanted it to.”
Slocum stared.
“For, you see,” Panther Pete went on, “it’s a little game I’ve been
playing here myself, to git him hung. He put me in jail once, a
year ago, and I ain’t forgot it. When I broke out o’ that jail, I
left behind me a little note fer him, tellin’ him that we’d meet
again in the sweet by and by, and I would settle accounts with him.
Then I planned to play this trick. I thought it would ruin him in
reputation, maybe; and, at any rate, that when he did arrive here a
mob would get him, fer the crimes I’d been doing.”
He looked hard at Slocum.
“I was on my way to the town. Will it be safe to go now?”
“I’d advise agin’ it, as I said, and that’s why I’m here. Keep away
frum it.”
“All right,” he said. “Work this trick, and hang Buffalo Bill as soon
as he hits Scarlet Gulch. Then we’ll have a free hand for a while,
and I’ll have the revenge I swore I’d have when I broke out of that
jail. But, just the same, I’m going into the town to-night. I’ve got
a reason which says I’ve got to go, and I’m going.”
He laughed recklessly.
“Call off your dogs of war, Slocum, while I’m there; get ’em all to
drinking in the Flash Light. You can get ’em so drunk on Rainey’s
pizen that they won’t know anything until morning. I’ve got a reason
to be in that town, and in I’m going, even if Buffalo Bill was there
himself.”