“This way, Cayuse,” said the scout, as he bounded over the fallen Indian. But before he had covered ten feet he sprang almost into the arms of three or four warriors coming that way. It was too late to turn back, and like a battering-ram the scout shot ahead. His arms worked like piston rods, and the surprised Indians fell before the onslaught.
“Come on, Cayuse,” he called, and darted out the way he had come. Cayuse was at his heels as they came to the brook.
A little farther up they found Bear Paw and Navi tethered, and a moment later Avery and the boy, followed by Hickok and old Nomad, galloped up.
The scout remembered the lone pony hitched in the bushes near by, and released the animal, which followed them as they raced away after Hickok.
Wild Bill was having the time of his life, out on the plains, with the herd of Indian ponies darting like mad things before him.
“When ther redskins wake up they’ll wonder whar we come from an’ whar we went,” chortled old Nomad. “On’y one trouble w’th that, Buffler, ’twarn’t long ernuff. Ef we c’d er hed ’bout twenty-four hours jes’ ez excitin’ mebbe the’d been some sassifaction in et.”
“Golly! Mars’ Billyum, Ah reckon dey t’ought de reg’lars am right at de back doh, w’en dey hear dis gemman swell out ’is chist an’ sing out: ‘Git inter line, dar, yer goor fer nuffin’ brack possum eaters!’ Dat’s what Ah said.”
“Now, boys,” said Buffalo Bill, after they had come up with Hickok, “don’t fool yourselves with the notion that it is all over but the shouting, for it isn’t. It is almost daylight, and we are on the open plain with three hundred throughly aroused red men on our trail as soon as it is light enough to see. It is up to us to put as much distance between ourselves and the Indians as possible before light. To the west lies a heavy range of hills, which we ought to make in three hours’ hard riding. Are you all good for it?”
“Ay,” came the chorus.
When the sun arose the scout’s party had passed quite a range of hills, and if the Indians were in pursuit they were nowhere visible.