“How many fighting men are there, Long Dave?”
“Some forty or more, big boys included; and then there’s the twenty troopers under Captain la Clyde, who you might count on, for he just goes scouting around, you see, and has taken a shine to one of the gals in the train, and he’s going to be on hand when it comes to a row, you bet.”
“Which way did the cavalry go when they left the train last night?”
“That’s jist what I was going to find out when I seed that devil of a fellow they call Buffalo Bill a-coming across the prairie, and I jest lit out for these diggin’s, you bet, chief, kase I knows that fellow, and don’t want him near me.”
“You refer to Buffalo Bill, the army scout?”
“Yes, the fellow is getting mighty bold of late.”
“He is, indeed, and I would be willing to pay a round sum to take him, for he has thwarted my plans more than once. Well, we’ll lie in wait for the train here, and to-night, Long Dave, you and Black Wolf must start out and bring me the exact whereabouts of both the train and the troopers, for this rich harvest must not be lost for want of reaping. Now let us have supper, Buttermilk, you lazy dog.”
“You be lazy, too, if you have to cook tough ole buffalo bull a t’ousand year ole,” grumbled the negro, who always had a way of answering back when addressed, and which his master appeared not to notice, but would severely punish in any one else.
Just as night set in the chief and his three comrades fell to and were soon enjoying the really delicious meal which Buttermilk had prepared. An hour or more passed away and the bandit camp was as silent as a “city of the dead,” for the men had rolled themselves in their blankets and sought their rest, excepting the half a dozen sentinels who had been set to keep watch and ward.
Now and then the howl of a hungry wolf out on the prairie broke the stillness of the night, or the startled snort of a horse was heard. Then again all was quiet, until suddenly there rang forth the sharp crack of a rifle, followed by a death shriek. Instantly every man in that camp was on his feet, excepting one, and that one was a sentinel who lay dead where he had fallen beneath the aim of an unseen foe. In silence the band awaited, the chief at his post, and all ready to meet an expected attack; but slowly the minutes passed and no other sound was heard to prove an enemy near, and the prairie looked free of danger.