“That is the trail we take, Captain Caruth, and I am going to ask you to camp your men outside of Pocket City, and you and the major go on with me alone,” said Buffalo Bill. “You will discover my reason later, and, if I mistake not, we will find Surgeon Powell in Pocket City, for I cannot believe that harm has befallen him.”
So the command moved on its way, and Buffalo Bill guided them to the camping-place near the cabin of Deadshot Dean.
It was night then, and, accompanied by Major Lester and Captain Caruth, Buffalo Bill rode on into Pocket City and halted at the Frying Pan.
But for the warning given by the Surgeon Scout, it would have been to the great surprise of Bonnie Belle, as she came out of her rooms, to be suddenly confronted by the tall form of the scout, and to see behind him the two officers in uniform. The scout acted as spokesman, and said:
“Bonnie Belle, we are here to find Surgeon Powell, and I feel that you will give what information you can regarding him.”
“Then you missed my courier to the fort, sent this morning?”
“We saw no courier.”
“I sent to the fort a letter to Colonel Dunwoody explaining all, and—— But why this disguise any longer, for I see that Major Lester and Captain Caruth both know me now as Miss Arden, but here remember I must be only Bonnie Belle.
“Come into my rooms and I will tell you all there is to tell, while, to relieve your minds, let me say that Surgeon Powell is here and doing well, though he is wounded. I will explain, however.”
And then she told the story of her bold rescue of her brother, and which she had intended to be a bloodless one, as far as she was concerned.