Soon he said: “I am willing to make a deal with you. Raven Feather is in my employ. He will obey my commands. Turn me loose, and you shall not be harmed.”
The king of scouts smiled. “What do you take me for, a babe in arms? What, let me go free after I know your game and am in a position to spoil it? Oh, no, Mr. Rixton Holmes, no deal of that kind with you. But I will tell what I am willing to do. Give orders to those Navahos to withdraw, to light out across the flat to the open country—I will want to see them as they go off, you understand—and when they are a mile away, I will go out and leave you here.”
“Where will you go?”
“Out of the danger zone, of course,” answered the scout promptly, but with his face turned away from the prisoner.
Holmes considered the matter seriously. He sighed. It went against the grain to accept Buffalo Bill’s proposition, but he must do it, or his life would be lost. Soon his face cleared a little. Buffalo Bill was wounded, and therefore could not travel fast. The Navahos, who were magnificent trailers, and knew every foot of the country, would probably be able to run the scout down.
“I will accept,” he announced, and the king of scouts, who had divined what had been passing in the villain’s mind, repressed a smile, and responded coldly: “Very well. You are a sensible man, sometimes. Now elevate your voice and talk business to your cutthroat allies outside.”
Holmes shouted, and soon Raven Feather came out of the bushes and approached the door.
The command requested by Buffalo Bill was given, and immediately the Indians withdrew, going across the flat and into the stretch of open country.
Buffalo Bill counted eight. Four, then, must have been slain. He waited a few moments, and then cautiously opened the door. Three Navahos lay dead in front of the cabin. He went around the building, and there was the body of the fourth Indian. It lay under the window.
Returning to the room, he satisfied himself that Holmes was weaponless, then cut the bonds and told the prisoner to get up. The savages were now half a mile away.