“Why should I? For am I not speaking to one who will soon be dead? Bah! you can no longer frighten me, Buffalo Bill!”
“Yes, it looks as though I was near my finish; I do not deny it,” said Cody quietly. “But tell me one thing, Boyd Bennett. Did you kill Lieutenant Danforth yourself?”
“I am sorry to say I did not. There was a good deal of hot work right here. But Red Knife claims the honor of having delivered the finishing-stroke. We were returning to take the scalp-lock——”
“By Heaven, man! you shall not do it!” roared Cody, starting forward.
But a dozen rifles clicked, and he knew that he was helpless. He fell back again. Bennett laughed.
“Chief Oak Heart refused to allow any of his braves to scalp Danforth because he had fought so boldly.”
“God bless the old red sinner for that!” murmured the much wrought-upon scout.
Bennett laughed again.
“But I am Death Killer, the medicine-chief, and I have come back myself to take the scalp-lock from the head of the man against whom I swore revenge.”
“Boyd Bennett! accursed though you be, with a heart blacker than the foulest redskin can boast of, you would not do this wrong!” cried Buffalo Bill, in horror.