“If I’m shot,” he said, “it will be by some o’ ther boyees, or by ther boss, fer betrayin’ ’em, I’m thinkin’.”
They tied his hands, and then compelled him to mount to the back of his horse.
Wild Bill mounted behind him, and Buffalo Bill tied the feet of the rascal together under the horse’s belly.
“We’ve got a horse apiece now, old pard,” said Wild Bill, laughing. “I didn’t think we’d stay long without mounts for both of us. Now, heave ahead, Sam. And, mind you, no trickery. We won’t stand it.”
Garland indicated the direction to be taken, which he claimed was the right direction to Panther Pete’s stronghold. In reality the direction he pointed out was that toward the “trap” into which the “stool pigeons” were instructed to decoy pursuers.
So they rode along, with Garland and Wild Bill leading the way.
CHAPTER XLIII.
THE CAPTURE OF PANTHER PETE.
Panther Pete was not dead.
The sturdy blow of the girl had felled him, and he had fallen insensible to the earthen floor, and there he lay for some time as unconscious as a log. For the girl had struck hard, and she had struck true, though her strength did not enable her to deliver a blow of skull-cracking force.
Panther Pete came back to consciousness, and himself discovered that the girl was gone, and that the door of the hut stood wide open. The discovery stirred him into renewed life.