“I intend to stop the massacre,” returned the king of scouts quietly.
“Ye do, eh? Well, ye aire takin’ a mighty big job onto yer shoulders.”
“I have taken larger ones, Pete.” This was said in no boasting tone, rather as a matter-of-fact statement.
A flood of recollections deluged Alkali Pete’s mind. He nodded and smiled. “I reckon I’ll haul in my horns, Buffler. Ye’ll make it; jest how I kain’t conceive, but ye’ll make it, or thar’ll be a circus.”
“And to make it I must be moving,” the king of scouts replied. “You must remain here with the colonel and Miss Hayden, Pete. I’ll be back before dark.”
With these words he took Black-face Ned by the arm and moved away.
Half an hour later, and ten minutes before the time fixed for the outcoming of the Apaches, Buffalo Bill and his prisoner reached the edge of the opening in front of the cliff dwellings.
Wild Bill saw him coming, and rushed forward to meet him.
“I am in time,” said the king of scouts, with a smile as hand met hand.
“If you had come earlier you would have suited me better,” declared Wild Bill earnestly. “I have been worrying a bit about you. Thunder Cloud told Black Wing about the rattlesnake business, and I believed you were on velvet back there in the castle, otherwise I would never have left the place without trying to find you. But you are here at last, and I’m mighty glad to see you. You’re just in time to see a sensational spectacle. The Apaches are up in the cliff rooms now, but in a few minutes they will come out, and then Beelzebub will proceed to pop.”