“Ho, pards, kin yer give a couple of friends lodgin’ fer ther night?”
The two prisoners writhed in agony of spirit, but Buffalo Bill, imitating the voice of Rocks, and having learned the names of the two men, called out:
“Hooray! Is that you, Jim Sims and Alex Sands?”
“It are. Any one with you?”
“Yes; two pards is here. Wait until I open the door, and you bet we is glad ter see yer, fer Tom is laid up jist now and feelin’ mighty bad.”
“Hoop-la! Come on, Alex!” cried Jim Sims in a joyful tone.
“They are here, and all’s O.K., with the goose hanging high.”
The tone was exultant, and Jim Sims leaped from his horse, stepped to the door, and was suddenly seized by the throat with a grip of iron, hurled to the dirt floor and heard the words:
“Utter a sound of warning to your pard and you are a dead man!”