“I surely will if you don’t put up your gun!”
“Let her up!”
“Put away your gun!”
The scout was obliged to do so. If he shot the scoundrel the latter might sink, his clutch still upon the White Antelope, and neither of them rise again until the breath had left both their bodies!
Boyd Bennett saw the scout put the gun back into his belt. He then dragged the girl up by her long, golden hair, and with her in his arms—she was now totally unconscious—he struck out with his free hand for the island. The scout seemed helpless. There was nothing he could do to stop the foe or free the girl. The situation stumped Buffalo Bill completely!
All the scout could do was to wait, hand on gun, for some chance to aid his cause. While Bennett struggled in the river with the girl he dared not fire for two reasons. One, already stated, was that he feared the man would sink with his burden and both be drowned; the other was that he feared his pistol-ball might wound the girl as well as Bennett.
And now it was not altogether sure that the scoundrel could make the shore of the island. He was weaker than he had been, and the burden of the girl bore him down. There was a current set off from the island on this side, and he had this to fight. And fight he did—with a bravery which Cody could but admire. He breasted the current, and fought inch by inch the downward drag of the river. It was too much for him, however.
Suddenly the bandit almost lost his hold upon the girl. Cody believed he was about to give her up and save himself, and he prepared to force Chief into the deeper current and so swim out for her. He swung his lariat again, too, that it might be ready for emergency. But, although Bennett was carried down-stream and the shore of the island was rapidly receding from him, he still clung to the Indian maid.
“Look out for the rope, Boyd Bennett! Catch it!” sang out the scout, believing that now the fellow would certainly rather save his life and lose the girl than lose both his own and her lives. But a sputtering shriek came back from the maniac:
“Fling your rope if you dare, Bill Cody! I’ll kill her if you do—mark that!”