“Neither of the girls has been killed. Their bodies are not to be found.”
“And that means?”
The young man was pale to the lips as he asked this question. Cody did not reply.
“You know what it means, Buffalo Bill! They have been carried off by the redskins. They will be exposed to a fate worse than death. They will be tortured with the fiendish cruelty of which only the Indian squaws are capable.”
“Steady! Brace up, old fellow!” said Buffalo Bill. “Don’t give way to despair at once. All is not lost. We can follow the trail of the Shawnees, and the chances are good that we may rescue the girls. The redskins cannot have a big start of us.”
Mainwaring’s face lost its look of blank despair when he heard these words.
“Thank Heaven, Cody!” he gasped. “You have lifted a load off my mind. Yes, we will follow. We will rescue the girls, and we will make the redskins pay dearly for what they have done.”
Before Buffalo Bill could reply he was amazed by hearing a feeble voice calling to him:
“Marse Cody!”
Turning on his heel, he saw a black face peering out at him from the upraised tent of one of the wagons. It was the face of Norfolk Ben, the negro servant of the Doyles.