Dick shouldered his rifle, and hurried out in search of Frank, while Bob, after binding the prisoner, busied himself in setting things to rights. In half an hour the Old Bear's Hole presented a scene that was a cheering one to our weary fugitives. The fire was burning brightly again, the body of the outlaw had been removed, and all traces of the fight which had taken place there but a few minutes before, were concealed by the leaves which the old trapper had pulled out of the lower passage-way and spread over the floor of the cave. Dick had returned with Frank, who was so jubilant over his success that, for a long time, he could talk about nothing else. He felt particularly proud of the result of the race he had just run. Roderick had fairly vanquished his swift rival, and Frank, after a protracted rough-and-tumble fight, had overpowered and bound the Black Fox. The young hunter now lay stretched out on the ground in front of the fire, one hand supporting his head, and his eyes fastened upon his prisoner, who sat sullenly in a remote corner of the cave. Adam lay near him, watching the movements of the trappers, one of whom was engaged in cutting up the elk, and the other in superintending the broiling of several steaks, which he had placed on the coals. In the corner, opposite the entrance, sat the outlaws—the remnant of Black Bill's band. The one who had been wounded during his fight with the panther, was too severely injured, and too thoroughly cowed by the presence of the trappers, to attempt escape, and consequently he was not confined; but the others were bound hand and foot.
"Things are comin' out all right at last, aint they?" said Dick, turning the steaks with his knife. "If I could only see Archie settin' somewhere about this fire, an' could hear him laughin' an' goin' on like he allers does, I should be jest as happy as I want to be. A good many of the fellers that left the Colorado with us we'll never see agin, but I'll bet a hoss that we will find every one of our crowd at Fort Benton, when we get thar. I come out without a scratch, an' so did Frank an' Adam; Bob, here, has got a hole in his head, made by a tomahawk, an' another in his arm, made by a bullet; but he's as sassy and full of fight as ever."
"Did you recognize Bob when he was playing the part of medicine-man?" asked Frank.
"Sartin I did. I've knowed the ole feller since I was a boy no bigger nor you, an' I've seed him when he looked wusser nor he did in that doctor's dress. I knowed I was safe the minute I seed him come into the village."
"How did you obtain possession of that disguise?" inquired Frank, turning to the old trapper.
"Easy enough. Arter Dick was captured, I hung around the camp in the edge of the woods, waitin' fur a chance to do something fur him. I happened to meet the medicine-man, an', thinkin' that I could make better use of his rig nor he could, I jest knocked him over."
The supper, which Dick now pronounced ready, did not put a stop to the conversation, for there was much to talk about. Adam told what had happened at the cave during Frank's absence, and the latter described his adventures, from his unsuccessful attempt to liberate his cousin down to the time he met the trappers in the ravine. Dick and Bob were astonished at the reckless courage he had exhibited. The former, as usual, called him a "keerless feller," and Bob declared that he would make a trapper "wuth lookin' at." Then Dick told how he had seen Bob captured while they were cutting their way out of the fort, and how he had gone into the camp in the disguise of a wounded Indian to assist him in making his escape. When he liberated Archie, however, he found that Bob had already eluded his enemies; and, after wandering about the camp until he found a rifle which he could take possession of without attracting attention, he returned to his horse, which he had left hidden in the bushes, and soon overtook his chum, who was on his way to the Old Bear's Hole.
When the boys had satisfied their appetites, they lay down on the leaves and went to sleep, while Dick set out in search of Archie, leaving Bob to watch the boys and the prisoners during his absence. He was gone all day, and when he returned he was not as hopeful as when he left in the morning. He had met no Indians, he reported, but he had seen the ruins of a wagon train, which had been attacked and burned. If Archie was with that train, the probabilities were that they would never see him again.
After another hearty meal on venison, the fugitives set out for Fort Benton, accompanied by their four prisoners—the trappers on foot, and the boys and the wounded outlaw riding the horses. They traveled all that night, and at noon the next day arrived within sight of the walls of the fort. The very first person they saw was Archie Winters, who galloped out on the chestnut-sorrel, swinging his hat around his head, and shouting like one demented.
"Not one of our crowd is missing now," he yelled, when he had embraced his cousin and Adam, and shaken the trappers warmly by the hand. "Captain Porter and Mr. Brent came in last night. As I live, there's my horse, which I never expected to see again. And isn't that Pete? Hurrah for every body! except the Indians and the outlaws."