when evening came the little party was still far from its destination. as twilight stole over the prairie buffalo bill called a halt for supper, and the indians set to work to build a fire.
when they had done this one of them took his earthen pot, which he always carried at the bow of his saddle and went to a stream near by for water.
he was back in a few moments, and ran up to buffalo bill and said:
“come! bring gun, grizzly coming up!”
the border king was on his feet in an instant, and he followed the indian to a little thicket of trees down by the side of the stream.
peering through the fast-growing darkness, he made out a great gray form advancing toward him. when within about twenty yards, it scented danger and stopped with an angry howl.
buffalo bill leveled his rifle and fired, but the bear, although mortally wounded, charged forward. when it was within a few paces of the scout, it exposed its flank in turning toward the indian; and thus gave the border king an opportunity to finish it with a bullet through the heart.
“good! that’s the first grizzly i ever killed with only a couple of bullets,” said buffalo bill to himself, as the other men ran up, alarmed by the sound of the shots.
the indians lost no time in skinning the animal. a portion of the flesh was carried to the fire, cut up into strips, and at once cooked. as soon as the meal was finished, the rest of the meat was cut up and divided among the party, who then mounted and rode on, the two indians again leading the way.
next day they reached the mountain where the cave dwellers lived, and found that the navahos, to the number of over two hundred, had pitched their camp in front of it. but they had been able to do nothing toward the rescue of their chief, for the face of the mountain was a perpendicular cliff, at the foot of which a stream flowed.
buffalo bill crossed the stream and rode forward to reconnoiter the position, accompanied by several of the indians. they had not gone more than a hundred yards along the foot of the cliff when a great stone came bounding down from above, striking the ground a few yards in front of buffalo bill’s horse and breaking into fragments.
at the same moment a shrill yell was heard from the cliff above, and, looking up, they saw a number of the cave dwellers on a ledge two hundred feet above them, with their bows bent threateningly.
“back, all of you!” shouted buffalo bill. “their arrows may be poisoned.”
seeing that the party retreated quickly, the savages did not shoot.
when they had got out of range, buffalo bill called a council of war, but found that nobody had any useful suggestions to offer. then he mounted his horse and rode along the bank of the river farthest from the cave dwellers to get a good view of the cliff. he saw that there were three or four openings in the solid rock on the level of the ledge on which the indians were posted.
he was astonished to notice that above these openings the cliff, which was in this place quite perpendicular, was covered with many strange sculptured figures, some of which still retained the color with which they had been painted in times long past.
evidently the cave dwellers had not always been the degraded savages they were at present, or, more probably, a higher race had formerly occupied the caves and made these sculptures.
“now, eagle eye,” said the border king, as the navaho brave came up to his side and watched the cliff with him, “we have to see how this place can be climbed.”
the navaho shook his head sorrowfully.
“i’m afraid it is impossible, long hair,” he replied in his own tongue. “you see that there is a zigzag path cut in the face of the cliff up to that ledge. in some places, as you can see, the rock is cut away altogether and the path is broken. they must have ladders to cross these breaks, and no doubt they would draw them up at once if they were attacked. you see that the lower ones have already been pulled up.
“likely enough, sentries are posted at each of those breaks whenever they are threatened with an attack. besides, we must remember that our first aim is not to attack, but to rescue red cloud. if they thought there was any risk of our getting up, they would almost certainly kill him without waiting for the feast of toshak.”
“i understand all that, eagle eye,” replied buffalo bill, “and i have no idea that we could make our way up by that zigzag path. the question is, could the cliff be climbed elsewhere? the other end of the ledge would be the best point to get up at, for any watch that they might be keeping would certainly be where the steps of this path come down to the ground.”
eagle eye looked doubtful.
“unless a man could fly, long hair, there would be no way of getting up there.”
“i don’t know about that,” the border king responded, carefully scanning the cliff. “wait till i have had a good look at it.”
for a long while he gazed intently at the cliff, observing even the most trifling projections, the tiny ledges that ran here and there along its face.
“it would be a difficult job and a dangerous one,” he muttered presently, “but i am not sure that it cannot be done. at any rate, i shall try. when i was a boy one of my favorite sports was cliff climbing, and there was nobody who could beat me at it, eagle eye.
“do you see, just in the middle of that ledge, where the large square entrance to the principal cave is, that the cliff bulges outward? that is lucky, for if there are any sentries on the steps of the zigzag path, they will not be able to see round that point. if they could, i would not have much chance of getting up, for it will be a bright, moonlight night.
“when i get to the ledge, if i do get there, i will lower down a rope. you can fasten the lariats of your braves together to make that rope; they will hold the weight of a dozen men easily. the lightest and most active of the warriors must come up first, and when two or three of them have mounted the ledge we can haul the rest of them up easily.
“now you can leave me and see that the rope is made ready, and tell your braves what i propose. i shall be here for half an hour at the least. i must see exactly the way to climb and calculate the number of feet along each of those little ledges to the point where i can reach the big one above. i must have the whole thing well in my mind before i start to climb.”
the indian shook his head doubtfully and departed. he had little faith in the feasibility of the scheme, and he thought it was nothing short of madness to attempt it.
such was the opinion of the rest of the tribe when he told them what the white man proposed.
buffalo bill, however, had a look of confidence on his face when he rejoined them.
“i’m more convinced than ever that it can be done,” he said, after the evening meal of bear’s meat had been eaten. he filled his pipe and began to smoke quietly.
wild bill and nick wharton remonstrated with him and told him that his scheme was pure folly, and he would simply throw his life away. when they found that they could not turn him from his purpose, they both begged him to let them climb the cliff in his stead, but he would not hear of it.
“you are a brave man, long hair,” said eagle eye, “but no man can do what you are talking of, and you will simply sacrifice yourself for nothing.”
“i will wager my horse against yours that i will succeed,” replied buffalo bill.
the navaho gravely nodded and took the bet. indians of all tribes are much given to wagering, and the horse which buffalo bill was riding was a far better one than his own. eagle eye regarded the matter in the light of a legacy, rather than a gamble.
in order to lull the cave dwellers into a feeling of security, the border king ordered that the camp be struck, and the whole party rode away as if they had given up the enterprise as hopeless.
when they got out of sight a halt was called, and buffalo bill gave instructions for the operation of the night.
“we will cross the river on the horses a mile above the caves,” he said. “we must use the animals, or we shall not be able to keep our rifles and revolvers dry. we will tear up a couple of blankets and twist the cloth round the barrel of the guns so that if they knock against the rocks, as we climb up, they will not make a noise and put our enemies on their guard.”
the border king then chose the lightest of the indians to follow him up the rope of lariats after the ascent had been made. another lightweight was to be the third, wild bill was to follow, and then those on the ledge were to pull up nick wharton, eagle eye, and the rest. the lariats were securely knotted together, and the knots tied over again with strips of hide to prevent their slipping.
the indians obeyed all of buffalo bill’s orders without a word, but it was evident from their manner that they had not the slightest hope that his daring attempt would prove successful. even nick wharton, who usually had the utmost confidence in his friend and leader, shook his head dubiously and said to wild bill:
“he is an all-fired wonder, is buffler, but i sagashuate he hev stepped up agin’ a bigger contraption than he kin manage this time.”
