Buffalo Bill started. The leader of this fantastic band was a white man. “I failed to catch your name,” he said politely, as he craned his head in the direction of the stranger.
The Wolf laughed. “The wind must have blown it away, I reckon,” he replied shortly. Then he added brusquely: “Give up your arms to my adjutant here, and place yourself in his hands.”
So saying, he marched down to the trail. Standing before the two outlaws, he looked them over from head to foot. “Pards of Black-face Ned, eh?” he said coldly.
No answer.
“Drop your guns!” The weapons struck the ground instanter. “Now go up the hill and submit to be bound. No monkey business, or Ned will be mourning your departure for a warmer clime than Arizona.”
With black brows, Sands and his companion obeyed the order. Soon the three prisoners were conducted to the retreat of the Wolves. It was at the head of a ravine about five miles south of the cañon trail, and Buffalo Bill was surprised when he reached the spot. It was forty feet above the bed of the ravine, and was nothing less than one of the old habitations of the extinct cliff dwellers.
The wall into which the habitation had been cut was of irregular formation, and nearly perpendicular. There seemed no way of reaching the holes either from the top or the base of the ridge. But there was a way to get up, and this passage was soon revealed.
Halting his band at a point directly below the holes in the rock, the leader of the Wolves gave the hoot of an owl. A head showed at one of the entrances, and as soon as it disappeared the leader marched forward to a large bowlder that rested against the face of the wall. With one hand he gave the huge rock a turn, and it swung back to reveal an opening large enough for a man to enter without stooping.
Inside of a minute the king of scouts found himself in the chamber of a cave. Upon the floor about the middle of the chamber was a cage, such as is used by miners in underground journeyings, and attached to it were stout ropes.
Looking up, the scout saw the opening through which the cage had descended, and understood how entrance to the cliff dwellings was obtained.