Why had she not heard?
A thrill of alarm ran through the boy. He feared something had happened to the girl, and he stole cautiously forward to investigate.
As he neared the ore-dump, he saw a figure on the platform, over the shaft. It was the form of a woman—he could tell that much—and he supposed it was Dell.
“Yellow Hair!” he called.
The figure started up, holding something, and darted down the side of the dump and out of sight among the dusky bushes.
Cayuse glided after the form, and before it had disappeared he discovered that it was the form of an Indian girl, and made up his mind that it was Wah-coo-tah.
Knowing Wah-coo-tah was a friend of Buffalo Bill’s, the boy called her name, and darted into the bushes after her. When he got into the chaparral, however, Wah-coo-tah had disappeared.
Puzzled by Wah-coo-tah’s actions, Little Cayuse climbed to the top of the ore-dump and peered into the black shaft.
At that time, the scout and Dell were talking in the main level, and the boy could not see or hear anything of them. He felt under the rim of the platform. Not finding a rope, he naturally concluded that Dell was not in the mine. Ignorant of the fact that Wah-coo-tah herself had removed the rope, the boy naturally supposed that Dell had fallen into the hands of Lawless and his men.
Skulking about in the chaparral, he hunted for some traces of the white scoundrels. He was unsuccessful. Knowing that much might depend upon the horses, he could not leave the animals unwatched, and so, with a heavy heart, he made his way back to the gully.