“And what’s above?” went on the scout, lifting his eyes.
“Cedar rafters and a mud roof.”
“Let’s go down to the basement.”
The scout and the gambler left the room, descended into the cellar by a narrow flight of stairs leading from the main part of the Alcazar, and found nothing but kegs and casks.
“Whoever spoke,” said Buffalo Bill, “spoke from here. Mere clap-trap for the sake of scaring me out.”
“Lawless never had it done,” said Gentleman Jim. “Your pard, Wild Bill, is wide of his trail if he thinks that.”
“No,” mused the scout, “Lawless wasn’t back of it. He seems too anxious to get me into the Forty Thieves to try to make me turn back.”
“It was a woman’s voice.”
“I’m thinking of that.”
When the scout and the gambler returned to the latter’s room, it was unnecessary for them to repeat to Wild Bill, Nomad, and Dell the result of their investigations. Every word spoken by Buffalo Bill and Gentleman Jim while in the basement had been distinctly heard by those overhead.