“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.