“From hyer ter the mine, Coomby, the bed o’ the cañon pitches down-hill, in spite o’ the fact thet, taken by an’ large, this Sun Dance deefile pitches to’ther way. The lake is down-cañon from the mine, but the bed o’ the cañon is down-grade all the way from hyer ter the Forty Thieves.”
“Waal, we’ll see. Let’s git down ter the fuses.”
Thereupon the two men lowered themselves over the top of the wall.
Cayuse, craning his neck, was able to see them applying a match to the ends of the fuses. The men climbed quickly to the top of the wall, and stood there, peering downward at the sputtering flames.
By that time the horror of the situation, so far as Buffalo Bill was concerned, had flashed over the boy.
It was Lawless’ plan to blow away the stone barrier separating the waters of the lake from the cañon! The waters, thus released, would rush over the cañon wall, down the cañon, and flood the shaft and level of the Forty Thieves! If Buffalo Bill was in the mine, he would be drowned—there was no possible way for him to escape.
With every nerve tense, Cayuse pulled himself to one knee and lifted his rifle to his shoulder. If he could shoot down the two men and extinguish the blazing fuses——
This was the boy’s thought, and he would have executed the plan, or tried to, had not fate played against him. The slight noise he made in shifting to his knee and lifting the rifle had been heard.
“What’s thet, thar in the bresh?” yelled Coomby.
“I heerd er noise, too,” began Clancy, “an’——”