Going to the rear of it, around the cliff he stood gazing at the fine view from that point until suddenly he heard a noise near the cabin.
Quickly he made his way there and felt sure that some one was striving to break in. Voices reached his ear, too, and one said:
“Yer ain’t moved her, Jerry, so let me get a whack at her, as I fer one don’t intend ter be caught in this neighborhood arter dark, fer this is too near ther Hangman’s Gulch ter suit me.”
“And it don’t please me a little bit.”
“Take ther ax and let fly, for thar’s money inside I is dead sart’in,” was the reply.
The scout placed his foot on the projecting ends of the logs and quickly ascended to the roof, which was nearly flat and made of boards on top of logs, slanting toward the cliff under which the cabin stood.
He drew a revolver in each hand, knelt down, and, peeping over, saw the two men hard at work to break in the door. So far they had made no impression upon either the locks or the door, and, covering both of them with a revolver, Buffalo Bill said sternly:
“Hands up, pards, for I want you both!”
The voice coming from over their heads, and just after their expressed dread of being so near Hangman’s Gulch when night came on, brought from the lips of each man a cry of fright. They shrank back, looked up, and saw their danger.
“Hands up, I say!” roared Buffalo Bill.