“You’ll soon have your mind set at rest!” shouted Buffalo Bill, as with a bound like a panther he was upon the wretch.
The man attempted to reach knife or gun, but was too slow, and then a fierce struggle began.
For a minute or two they wrestled, and then both went down, with the scout on top. The rascal was frantically endeavoring to draw a revolver when a smashing blow from the scout’s fist ended the set-to.
In two minutes more Bloody Ike was securely bound and had been dumped none too gently on his cot. Then the scout went to the mouth of the cavern and sent forth a prolonged “Hoo-hoo-o-o!” for his pards.
CHAPTER VII.
RED DICK’S CHOICE.
Everything possible for the comfort of Wild Bill was done by his pards. Little Cayuse on the fleet Navi made all speed to Bozeman for a doctor, while Nomad and Skibo prepared a shelter in the open air, and the injured man was removed from the foul atmosphere of the old mine.
Buffalo Bill did not send for the sheriff, because he had already planned to “put the kibosh” on the chief county officer in the general round-up which he hoped would soon follow. These men were not to be tried before a local court. In fact, he had cause to distrust the court itself. Some things he had seen had led him to suspect that the local judge was in league with Price and the others. And as for a jury drawn from the countryside, Price had furnished liquor for too many of them for the scout to take any chances.
Buffalo Bill was aware that the most dangerous element of the “ring” was in Washington. There the plots were laid and such men as Price located where they could do the most good—or bad, as viewed from the standpoint of right and honesty. If other stations were as rotten at the core as this one there was work ahead for a long time to come.