“Thanks for the information that these are the Redskin Rovers, though I’d been guessing as much. Yes, I’d heard of the Rovers. But I didn’t know a white man led them, though that has been suspected. Indians are not natural highwaymen, and when they do turn highwaymen they are usually led by a white man.”
“I suppose you know why we attacked that house?”
“To get me?”
“You guess right. We learned you were there, from the Indian whose mustang you killed; and then we felt that we must have you. And now that we have you——”
“And now that you have me?”
“Well, we don’t intend that you shall get away. As for that fool who escaped, he doesn’t matter.”
Evidently this white man did not know old Nick Nomad, who, as a clever fighter and dangerous combatant, was worth any dozen ordinary men. Nomad and Nebuchadnezzar made a combination hard to beat.
CHAPTER XII.
A DESPERATE VENTURE.
Even while Buffalo Bill was talking with the disguised leader of the Redskin Rovers, old Nick Nomad was rapidly working out a plan for the release of the prisoners. Nebuchadnezzar had escaped from the Indians, and had carried with him his saddle and the saddle pouches. The first thing for Nomad to do was to get hold of Nebuchadnezzar.
Nomad’s wild yells as he fled, followed by his shrill whistles, were, as Buffalo Bill knew, intended for the ears of that wise old horse, for Nomad had trained Nebuchadnezzar to come in answer to those signals.