At the end of two hours the party was in the scant timber that fringed the Brazos, and had pointed upstream. Abruptly, the sky pilot drew rein.
“Friends,” said he, “half a mile ahead of us is Perry’s ranch. We don’t know the situation there, and I am sorely troubled as to what we shall find. Some of Benner’s cowboys may be in possession of the place, or lurking in the vicinity. I would suggest that one of us ride ahead and reconnoitre; and the one to do this, it seems to me, is Wild Bill.”
“Just as you say, parson,” answered Wild Bill.
“Nomad, Little Cayuse and I will wait here,” went on Jordan. “If everything is all right at the ranch, and you want us to come on, fire your revolver three times into the air. The sound will carry this far, and we’ll hear it and come. If there is anything wrong, return to us and we’ll try to decide what is best to be done. I am exceedingly apprehensive over this matter.”
Wild Bill thought that Jordan was letting his apprehensions carry him too far, and that there was no need for so much caution in approaching the ranch. However, all the pards were more than willing to please the sky pilot in such a small matter.
“I’m off, amigos,” announced Wild Bill.
His horse, Beeswax, answered to the touch of the spurs and bounded away through the timber.
Wild Bill halted when he came close to the ranch house, and swept his eyes carefully around the vicinity. He saw nothing to excite his suspicions. He could hear horses in the corral, and he could see a glow of lamplight coming from the windows of the cabin.
“The girl and Dunbar are in the house,” muttered the Laramie man, “and if they’re worried about Perry, the fact is not evident from this distance. I’ll slash along, just as though there weren’t any hostile barons on the Brazos. If any cowboys present themselves—well, they’ll make as good targets for me as Beeswax and I will make for them.”
He laughed softly and spurred onward. The door was open when he drew up before it, and a flood of lamplight poured through. A figure stood in the light—a figure that brought Wild Bill up rigidly in his saddle. His astonishment was intense.