“You’re in Sun Dance Cañon.”
“This is where I was bound fer, but I wasn’t expectin’ ter git here on a maverick longhorn. You fellows roped the critter?”
“I tried ter,” spoke up Hank Tenny, “but the animile yanked a snub-post up by the roots an’ got away from me. He was headin’ fer the edge o’ thet precipice, thar, with the idee o’ jumpin’ over an’ takin’ you with him, when this young lady, who happened ter be handy by with a gun, let drive with a bullet. It’s the bullet thet saved ye, pilgrim.”
The stranger swerved his eyes to Dell.
“I’m obliged to ye, miss,” said he. “What might yer name be?”
“Dell Dauntless,” said the girl.
“Buffalo Bill’s girl pard!” exclaimed the stranger, his dull eyes lighting a little. “I won’t forget this, Dell Dauntless.”
“It’s nothing—nothing at all,” deprecated Dell. “Any one else would have done the same thing, had they been situated as I was.”
“Some one else,” said the stranger grimly, “might have put a bullet inter me instead o’ the steer. Howsumever, we’ll let that pass, fer now. My name’s Blake, Henry Blake,” he went on, addressing generally the men who were grouped about him. “I left Pass Dure Cañon yesterday mornin’ with a bag o’ dust, calculatin’ ter come ter Sun Dance an’ take ther stage fer Montegordo. Just under the lee of Medicine Bluff I was stopped by Cap’n Lawless and some o’ his murderous scoundrels——”
“Captain Lawless!” exclaimed Gentleman Jim, astonished, and the words were taken up and echoed by all the other bystanders—Dell Dauntless being particularly interested.