Her face flushed prettily as Buffalo Bill spoke in praise of her heroic work in rescuing him from the fire. But it flushed even more, with a glow of love and joy, when Bruce appeared. He had not known of the death of the girl’s uncle, and was shocked by the news; but he declared his entire willingness to accompany her in the stage to the railroad station, and on East, if she wished it. There could be no doubt that such a journey with the girl he loved would be the supreme pleasure of his life.
Nomad drew Buffalo Bill aside at the first opportunity.
“Buffler,” he said, “we seen a feller hikin’ toward ther hills fast as his hoss could go, and he comed from this direction; seemed ter me he was scai’t about somethin’ er ’nother.”
The old trapper had seen the man who had fled from the cabin—the eavesdropper whom Buffalo Bill had surprised beneath the tree.
While they talked, Pawnee Bill joined them. He was the same gallant, debonair, handsome scout, dressed with an attention to appearance that marked him among the careless bordermen—his velvet jacket, his gold-mounted revolvers, and the costly saddle that was on the back of his horse, always drawing attention wherever he went.
“What, ho!” he said gayly, as he joined the scout and the trapper. “Cody, we’d found a band of mustangers, and we half think they are mixed up in some way with this stage-robbery business that’s making the land hereabout notorious. I think we’d better investigate them a bit.”
Buffalo Bill mentioned the man he had seen, and who had been sighted by Nomad.
“Oh, yes; he was riding as if the Old Boy was after him.” Pawnee Bill laughed at the recollection. “He was going so fast that he was only hitting the high places. And, come to think of it, he was heading in the direction of the valley where those mustangers hang out at present.”
Buffalo Bill told him what he suspected, told him of the death of the girl’s uncle, and of the valuable emeralds with which he had been intrusted.
“She’d better get out of here with them as quick as she can,” said Pawnee Bill. “The knowledge of such things can’t be kept; and if she isn’t held up and robbed of them, it will be because she moves out in a hurry.”