“Orders,” answered Doyle.
“From whom?”
“Captain Markham. He picked up Geronimo’s trail over in that blind gully in Tres Alamos Gulch, and sent a runner back with a note that I was to take six men, hike for Tonio Pass and look for Buffalo Bill. When I found Buffalo Bill I was to report to him that Geronimo and a part of his Chiricahua renegades are hustling for Mexico, and that Bascomb, the deserter, is supposed to be with him. A captured Apache told Captain Markham that the renegades who jumped the reservation have divided into two parties—one party deserting from Geronimo and rounding up in Pool Spring Valley. After coming here and looking for you, we’re to make for Pool Spring and see how the land lies.”
Several parts of the lieutenant’s communication caught the scout’s attention. The first thing concerned the deserter.
“Captain Markham is wrong about Bascomb, Doyle,” averred Buffalo Bill.
“I learn that Markham got his information pretty straight.”
“It may seem straight, but it’s mightily tangled, for all that. Bascomb is in that cave there”—the scout waved a hand toward the cavern entrance—“and he lies on the floor with his boots on.”
“Another surprise!” muttered Doyle. “Sure it’s Bascomb?”
“Yes.”
Doyle rose in his stirrups and looked back at his handful of troopers.