Then, keeping his steely gaze fixed on Lawless, the scout stepped toward him.
“Keep away from me!” shouted the outlaw, backing toward the door. “One or the other of us will never leave this place alive, and that shot goes as it lays.” He turned partly toward the rest of the men, addressing them, but keeping his eyes on the scout. “What are you hanging back for?” he demanded fiercely. “What sort of fighters are you, anyhow? If you want to join my gang, show me what you can do. I’m holding my hand, just to give you the chance.”
This was a sure-enough bluff, and it brought a laugh from the scout; then, suddenly, Dell Dauntless, on her white cayuse, appeared in the wide, high doorway. The girl’s face was white and determined, and she held her riata ready for a throw.
What had brought such a plan into the girl’s head the scout could not guess, but it was plain that she had a set purpose in mind, and was there with the determination to carry it through at all hazards.
If Lawless had heard the hoof-falls of Silver Heels, he gave them no heed. He dared not. To turn his face from the scout even for an instant would have spelled inevitable disaster for him. And yet the outlaw was not entirely ignorant of the danger behind him. The startled exclamations of the others in the resort apprised him of the fact that something unusual was taking place at the door.
In order to cut short the tension of the moment, Lawless started to lift his revolver for another and a better shot at Buffalo Bill. Before his arm was half-raised, a noose dropped over his head and tightened about his body at the elbows.
It was an easy throw for Dell, and she at once set Silver Heels to backing, drawing the rope taut and preventing the astounded bandit from struggling clear of the noose.
“Bravo, Dell!” shouted Buffalo Bill, as the girl backed slowly through the doorway, dragging the squirming Captain Lawless at the end of the rope.
The instant the outlaw had vanished from the room, the scout faced the gaping and amazed men he had left behind.
“I don’t know whether any of you really intended to join Lawless’ gang or not,” said he sternly; “but, if you did, I have kept you from making a bad mistake. The reputation of this camp of yours is none too good, and if you want to stay in the gorge and dig your gold out of the rocks, I’d advise you to be a little less ready to take up with such scoundrels as Lawless. That will be all!”