Angell went outside, and presently appeared with a pick and shovel. Resting the implements against the wall, he said as he came forward to sit on a stool by Buffalo Bill’s bunk: “Go ahead. You aire ther judge an’ I’m ther sheriff.”
“I was in Hayes City a few weeks ago,” the king of scouts began, “and was figuring on going up to Laramie for a spell to look after my interests near the place, when an old army friend, Major Kent, met me and asked a service. A young woman, daughter of a West Point classmate, was in town, and it was her desire to proceed at once to the cabin of Matt Holmes, in these hills. The matter was important, and she needed a guide and protector. Would I act in that double capacity? I did not give an answer until I had taken a look at the young woman. Then I capitulated. I have seen many pretty women, Bart, but none prettier than Myra Wilton. And, best of all, she is as good as she is pretty. I would have been a brute if I had not consented to take charge of her and see her safely to her destination.
“Two days sufficed for preparations, and one fine morning, mounted on ponies, we set out across the plains for the mountains. It was not long before I had her full confidence. She told me something that both surprised and vexed me. She had journeyed from her home in Pennsylvania on the say-so of a letter written by a man who was an utter stranger to her. The letter was from Santa Fe, and was signed ‘James Loftus,’ and set forth that, as the attorney of Matt Holmes, her uncle, it was his duty to inform her that her uncle had but a few months to live. He had met with an accident while out hunting, and was now waiting for the end to come. His brother Jared was dead, and she was his only living relative. There was something of the utmost importance, relating to his possessions, which he desired to communicate to her. He dared not trust to the post, for he had an enemy who possessed satanic craft. Therefore, he asked that she come to him, and at once. She could find a guide in Hayes City. The journey was not a hard one, and he hoped to see her before a month had passed.
“I know all the law sharps in Santa Fe, or in the Territory, for that matter, and no one of them answers to the name of Loftus. The statement that Holmes had an enemy also made me regard the letter as shady. But I did not voice my suspicions for fear of alarming Miss Wilton. I would guide her to Holmes’ place, and see to it that she met with no harm. I know now that I made a mistake. Better for her had we turned back and never attempted to cross the mountains.”
“What! Did ye lose her?” queried Angell, with marked concern written on his homely face.
“Yes, I lost her,” replied Buffalo Bill despondingly. “We were within half a mile of her uncle’s cabin, and I had begun to think that my suspicions were groundless, when I heard shots coming from the direction of the cabin. I spurred on ahead, and did not look behind me until I was in sight of the cabin. Then I turned. Miss Wilton was not in sight. Supposing that she had failed to make good time and would soon show herself, I waited.
“Soon a shout from the cabin made me turn and face the door. There stood Matt Holmes, as well as ever. I had known him for years, and when he shouted, ‘Look out, Cody, or they’ll get you,’ I ducked my head, and thus escaped a bullet fired from the brush.
“The next moment I was on the ground. I got to the cabin, and as soon as I entered, Holmes closed the door. ‘My enemy has found me,’ he explained, ‘and we are goin’ to have a picnic.’
“Hurriedly I informed him that his niece was outside, and that she had come in response to the instructions of a lying letter. The statement was no sooner made than we heard a woman’s scream. I was about to dash for the door, when a bullet fired from behind—the back door must have been open—brought me to the floor. As I fell I heard other shots, saw Holmes rush out of doors, and then I fainted. I came to my senses to find the cabin on fire.
“How I got outside in time to prevent cremation I do not know. But I managed it somehow, and in the brush fainted again. I was opening my eyes when you came, Bart. Now you know all I have to tell. The enemy of Matt Holmes has won the first moves in the diabolical game he is playing. He has committed two murders, and he has carried off Myra Wilton.”