“You were not at Forest’s this morning?” said Buffalo Bill, his sharp eyes boring Toby Sam. “Didn’t I see you under the tree there close by the house; and, when I spoke to you, didn’t you run and get your horse, and ride away without answering me?”
“It’s a mistake,” said Toby Sam. “I wasn’t over there at all.”
“Then I beg your pardon,” said the scout. “It was a mistake.”
But he knew that Toby Sam had lied, and he wondered why.
In connection with the fact that Toby Sam might have seen those emeralds, or heard talk about them, it was so suggestive that the scout became uneasy.
CHAPTER XXXV.
THE ATTACK ON THE STAGE.
After tarrying with the mustang catchers of the Bitter Water, and trying to study Toby Sam, Black John, and others, Buffalo Bill and his friends departed, with no very clear conclusions, except a deepening suspicion against Toby Sam.
They journeyed toward the stage trail, thinking to intersect it where the stage would pass, and there get a final word with Lena Forest, who was to take the stage that day to the railroad.
As they approached the crossing, they heard what was undoubtedly an attack on the stagecoach.
Buffalo Bill and his companions rode rapidly toward the shots and the tumult.