“Sure. When Thunder Cloud told me you were here, I believed you wouldn’t rest until you had found the castle.”
Buffalo Bill thought of the story told by Greathead, the Apache.
“I was informed a while ago by one of your allies that you had left the castle,” he said. “He must have lied to me.”
“No, he didn’t lie. I did quit, but I did not go far. The leaving was a ruse to fool you.”
“Fool me? Did you count on my overcoming Greathead?”
“No, for Greathead was sent out to round up that long-legged fool they call Alkali Pete. But all the Apaches were told about my going, and I was betting that you’d get the information from one or more of them.”
“I didn’t meet any of them,” said Buffalo Bill sadly. “They went toward the cliff dwellings, I suppose.”
“You’ve hit it, and I am looking for an early return and a couple of dozen scalps.”
“What, you don’t expect them to scale the cliff, do you?”
“They won’t have to,” returned Black-face Ned quietly. “The Comanches will come out on the level ground and permit themselves to be shot down.”