“But how shall we follow the trail when we once find it? Lawless is cunning. He will blind his course.”
“Little Cayuse will help us.”
“Ah! I had forgotten Little Cayuse. You think the boy is on the track of the gang?”
“I am as sure of that as I am that I stand here this minute. It is just like Cayuse. He scented trouble before the first hold-up, and he got out of the stage before the thieves saw him. It’s a safe bet that he’s on the track of Lawless right now.”
“I believe you are right,” mused the gambler. “Cayuse is our one hope. If he cannot help us find Lawless, no one and nothing else can. The scoundrel has laid other plans to get even with you, Buffalo Bill, and he will be wary in carrying them out. He will profit by past experience, and will make sure he has you safe before he strikes.”
“He is not counting on Little Cayuse,” said the scout grimly, “and we are. The boy has never yet failed me.”
“Lawless is eager for you to follow him,” pursued the gambler; “that was the word he sent by Billings.”
“That was only bluster,” said the scout lightly. “Lawless’ weak point is bluster. He lays clever plans, but he usually overreaches himself. Offering to give me the Forty Thieves Mine if I would stay in it for three days and nights is only a sample of his harebrained schemes.”
“What a cur the scoundrel must be,” growled Gentleman Jim, “to take such trinkets from a woman!”
“He was no more of a cur then than he was when he shot his own daughter,” said the scout.