"I believe that it is Buffalo Bill," he muttered, as he saw that the horseman was clad in buckskin and wore his hair long. But as he came nearer he said eagerly:
"It is the surgeon-scout—Doctor Frank Powell!"
The coming horseman eyed the timber carefully as he approached. Something had evidently made him suspicious of danger there, and, turning to the left, he was about to flank it, when Andrew Seldon rode into view and waved his hat.
Then he rode forward once more, but cautiously, for the chances were that the man he saw might be a foe, he well knew.
But Andrew Seldon raised his hands above his head, in token of peace, and Surgeon Powell rode straight toward him.
"I dare not let him know who I am, though I would trust him, Heaven knows. He knows me as well as any man, and I'll see how I stand the test of his piercing eyes," muttered the gold-hunter, and, as the surgeon-scout drew nearer, he called out:
"Are you Buffalo Bill, sir?"
"No, I am Surgeon Frank Powell, of the army."
"I see now, sir, that you are not Buffalo Bill, for I met him once when he was in a tight place with road-agents. Are you from Fort Faraway, sir?"
"I am."