The object of the bandit’s mad act Buffalo Bill did not realize. Bennett’s bloodthirsty killing of the sentinel—and formerly of Red Knife—seemed to point to the fact that the man’s brain was turned. Why he had fled now from the encampment with the chief’s daughter was a deep mystery, unless he was indeed mad.
The scout’s mind, however, was given up mainly to planning for the release of the girl and the overcoming of her captor. Boyd Bennett seemed to be alone in this abduction plot, and the scout felt rejoiced that at last it seemed he was to meet the fellow with something like an equal chance.
The principal thing now was to not give Bennett start enough to hide in the rocks. Buffalo Bill could hear the scrambling of the man with the girl in his arms, although for some time he could not see him. Not until they rounded the spur of the mountain and arrived upon the farther slope did the scout obtain a glimpse of the object of his pursuit.
Then, to his bitter disappointment, he beheld Boyd Bennett, still lugging the girl, running down the hill toward a thicket, near which was tethered a horse, saddled and bridled! As he ran the renegade—now a traitor both to the reds and the whites—uttered a shrill “coee!” and immediately a horseman appeared from behind the thicket. It was one of the outlaw’s old gang, Buffalo Bill made no doubt, and he had been here in waiting, with the extra horse for his chief and the girl.
White Antelope no longer struggled in the fiend’s arms. Buffalo Bill knew that she had fainted and lay limply across Bennett’s saddle as he put her up and mounted in such haste. But the scout was too far away now for a shot. The two villains started their horses down the slope and were quickly out of sight, and all this without a single redskin being aroused!
Plainly Bennett had planned this coup with great cunning. He had placed his own braves in positions to bar Buffalo Bill from the valley where the camp lay, but had allowed one of Oak Heart’s braves to bar one exit. That brave Cody had seen the scoundrel kill and scalp, so leaving a plain path into the encampment if the scout wished to go that way.
But two strong desires led the scout upon a different trail. His interest in White Antelope was no small interest. Happenings of late had really increased it, indeed. And Boyd Bennett must be run down!
Afoot as he was, the scout hurried after the two outlaws and their fair-haired captive, for by keeping doggedly at it a man may run down a horse. Providing the outlaws had no fresh horses and their destination was far away, Cody felt confident that he would overtake them even though he continued afoot.
But chance favored him. Bennett and his companions followed a trace through the mountains which passed within a few miles of the valley in which Buffalo Bill had left Chief, his big white horse. The scout left the trail long enough to obtain his mount, which, having fed well and being rested, was as eager for the trail as his master.
Back to the bandit’s trail the scout rode, and the white stallion flung mile after mile of the rocky way beneath his feet. Bennett and his companion had not tried to disguise their trail. Evidently they felt either sure of no pursuit, or considered themselves a match for Buffalo Bill. Bennett probably did not think that the Indians themselves would miss White Antelope until the trail was stale and he would be too far away with the girl to be overtaken.