J. Algernon Smith was none other than Captain Lawless, and Captain Lawless was none other than Wah-coo-tah’s father!
Why should Lawless be impersonating Smith, unless he had some ax to grind? What that ax was, Buffalo Bill was determined to find out.
He went to the apartment taken by Nomad and himself, and expected to find Nomad there; but the trapper was not in the room.
Having replaced the bottle of liniment in his pard’s war-bag, the scout returned to the front of the hotel. Just then he was more particularly interested in finding Smith than in locating Nomad, but neither one nor the other was in evidence.
The Chinaman came out and pounded the dinner-gong. Buffalo Bill waited for a few minutes, hoping Nomad would present himself, but he did not. Thereupon the scout hung his hat on a peg in the office and went into the dining-room.
He took his time over the meal, keeping his eyes on the alert for a glimpse of Nomad or Lawless. His watchfulness, however, was without result.
Puzzled and uneasy, he finished his meal and went out to where Spangler was holding down his chairs in the shade of the hotel.
“How far up the gulch does Seth Coomby live, Spangler?” he asked.
“’Bout two mile,” replied Spangler.
“What’s become of Smith? Do you know?”