“well, this bangs me completely,” thought i, as i shouldered my bundle and stumbled along behind my leader through the darkness. “but i would like to know if any white man has ever been captured before by hostile indians and treated in this way. coyote bill seems to have the power in his own hands, doesn’t he? i tell you, he is a power in this land, and if he will let me get away from him this time, he’ll never see me again. i’ll go for the states the very first chance i get.”
bill seemed to know just how fast i could go to keep up with him, and in a few minutes i saw a light shining through between the trees, and presently i was ushered into his camp. there were three or four men lying around the fire, and they started up and looked at us.
[326]
“we have caught the wrong boy,” said bill, waving his hand to show that i could put my saddle and bridle down where i pleased; “but he has got to show us the place where that money is hidden before he gets away. he hasn’t had anything to eat, and is hungry.”
i sat down and looked at the men, and, i tell you, some of them were pretty rough characters. i was glad indeed that i had fallen into the power of bill’s best looking man, for if i had been captured by any one of the men sitting there at the fire, i should have fared badly. they expressed a sentiment of strong disgust when bill spoke of having captured the wrong boy, but no attention was paid to it. he proceeded to fill a long pipe very carefully, after which he went off into the darkness, while another man set before me some bacon and corn bread. it was not enough to satisfy my appetite, but i was glad to get what there was, and in a short time it had all disappeared. then i filled my pipe and settled back for a smoke.
“where do you suppose bill is gone?” i[327] asked, addressing my enquiries to whoever had a mind to answer it.
henderson was there, and in forming this question i looked particularly hard at him, not because i wished him to reply to it, but because i wished to see how he took matters. he was as mad as he was in camp when mr. chisholm found that he had got hold of the pocket-book containing the receipts, and not hold of the one that contained the will.
“he has gone off to get permission of the chief to burn you at sunrise,” said he spitefully.
“sho!” said i, for i knew that henderson had made this all up out of his own head. “then he won’t get the money.”
“that’s the only thing that makes me think he won’t do it,” said henderson. “but you will be gone up the next time you come here. how did you know that we were after the money, anyway?”
i repeated what i had said to bill, and that was nothing but the truth.
“there were three white men in the party, and they said, from the way you went about[328] it, they were satisfied that there were some renegades bossing the job,” answered i; and then i was almost sorry i said it. i did not know how they would take the name “renegades,” as applied to themselves; but henderson was the only one who understood it.
“and what made us renegades?” he asked, and i believed that the presence of the men was all that kept him from doing something desperate. “we killed almost all the guards at the first fire—i got two of them, i know, and i wish we had got them all. renegades! that is a vile and worthless fellow,” he added, turning to the men who were sitting around. “that’s the kind of men you be.”
some of the men laughed, while others acted as though they didn’t care what men’s opinions were of them so long as they were permitted to enjoy themselves. i saw that henderson was trying to work the men up to do something to me before coyote bill could get back, and i didn’t think any more of him for it.
“thar is one thing about that attack that i shall always be sorry for,” said one of the[329] fierce-looking men. “you know i, for one, had occasion to look out for the muels that had the specie onto them. tony here got the man, an’ i shot the muel through the neck. i could swear to that. well, that thar muel turned an’ run like he never run before, an’ got away with the injuns completely. he took right down by your ranch too. didn’t see nothing of him, i reckon, did you?”
i shook my head.
“well, thar’s a kind of a lucky feller down your way, i don’t know what his name is, who has a mighty fine chance of findin’ pocket-books when everybody else is done lookin’ for them, an’ i didn’t know but what he might try his hand at findin’ that muel with five thousand dollars in specie strapped onto him. that would be a pretty good haul for him, wouldn’t it?”
“yes, it would,” i replied. “but he would have to give it up to the paymaster.”
“oh, he would, would he?” exclaimed the fierce-looking man. “if he found it, it would be his’n, wouldn’t it?”
“you needn’t look for those boys to do[330] anything like that,” said henderson, with a sneer. “they would give it up to the paymaster and get five hundred dollars for it. it is a big thing to be honest!”
“well, i think we’ve made as much as you have by being honest,” said i. “you don’t seem to be loaded down with money.”
“but i would have had half a million if it hadn’t been for you and others like you,” muttered henderson between his clenched teeth.
“you had all the chance in the world,” i replied. “no one came near you when you were searching that house. you see luck wasn’t on your side.”
“what did you come here for anyhow?” asked one of the men. “folks say that you came here to buy cattle, but i’ll be switched if i don’t believe you came here to help davenport. you aint got no money to buy cattle.”
this started us off on a new topic of conversation, but henderson seemed to find fault with everything i said. i couldn’t reply to a single question but it would start some spiteful[331] remark on his part. i really did not see how the men stood it. finally coyote bill came back, and i noticed that his pipe was empty. he had smoked it out with the chief in gaining his point, and i wanted to hear him say that he had obtained permission to torture me at sunrise; but he said nothing of the kind, so that was one lie of henderson’s nailed.
“carlos, you had better go to sleep,” were the first words he spoke. “we have got a long ride before us in the morning, and you won’t feel a bit like getting up.”
“you want to watch him close for fear that he will escape,” chimed in henderson, who could not possibly let a chance go without saying something.
“he won’t escape. he won’t try to; will you, carlos?” continued bill, turning to me.
“not much,” i said. “where shall i lie down so that i will not be in the way?”
bill selected a place, and picking up my saddle and bridle—i do not know what made me hang on to them, for i did not suppose i would be allowed to ride my own horse in the[332] morning—and with a cheery “good-night, fellows; pleasant dreams,” i laid down on it. the majority of the men never paid any attention to my salutation. bill was the only one who noticed it, and he said: “thank you; the same to you,” and that made me think more than ever that he had been well brought up.
“that’s a brave fellow,” i heard him say as i arranged my saddle for a pillow and laid down with my back to the fire. “it would be a great pity if anything should happen to him.”
“and you are going to give him a chance to escape in the morning,” growled henderson. “i wish to goodness——”
“go to bed,” said coyote bill, in his ordinary tone of voice.
“i wish to goodness that you, or any fellow like you,” began henderson, “had sense enough to see——”
“go to bed!” said bill, and in an instant his revolver was out and was looking henderson squarely in the eyes. this was the third time that henderson had been placed in a[333] similar situation, but on this occasion he didn’t say anything back. he knew that bill was in just the right mood to shoot. he gathered up his saddle and blanket,—i didn’t have any blanket to cover myself with, and the nights were getting cold,—and that was the last i saw of him that night.
“i made it,” said bill, as soon as henderson was out of hearing. “i smoked a pipe with the chief, and he came over to my way of thinking. jack, you will ride down to the house with us in the morning.”
“but look here, bill,” said the man who had done most of the talking with me. “don’t you think those boys would be some kin to the biggest kind of dunces if they went off to escape from the hostiles, an’ left their plunder buried where you could find it? that’s what’s been running in my head ever since you went out to see the chief.”
“no, i don’t think so,” replied bill. “they went off in a hurry, did they not, and forgot to take some of their things with them. we have made thirty thousand dollars this trip, and that is something worth having.”
[334]
“yes, an’ that dog-gone muel got away from us. i expect that lucky feller at the ranch will have him.”
“well, we can’t help that. and if i don’t find the money this time, i have got something else in store for bob. i’ll pounce on him every chance, and steal his cattle by piece-meal, until he is driven from the country. and i wish to goodness that he had never come into it.”
“here, too! i don’t believe there was any half a million dollars wrapped up in his hide.”
“oh, yes! there was. but we can’t touch it now. those men have been to austin and got the will probated——”
“what do you mean by that?”
“they have been to austin and got it proved, and the property is all in bob’s name. what we would have done if we had captured bob in the place of this carlos, i don’t know. henderson thinks he could have got bob to sign the money over to him, but what good would it have done? they’d say right away that we had gained the signature by fraud, and[335] then we would have a war on our hands, i bet you. as it is, we can keep on stealing cattle; we will have a few rangers to whip, and that’s all it will amount to. i am going to bed.”
i do not know that i was in any condition to produce sleep, surrounded as i was by men who had talked with satisfaction of seeing me tortured at sunrise; but it is a fact that, as soon as coyote bill sought his blankets, i sank into an untroubled slumber, from which i was awakened by bill’s shaking me and ordering me to catch up. i started up, only to find that somebody had thrown a blanket over me while i was asleep, and to see that the camp of indians was gone, and that there was no one in sight except coyote bill, his man gentleman jack,—i did not know what else to call him,—and henderson.
“they have all gone away with the cattle,” said bill, noting my feelings of surprise. “you wouldn’t have us stay around here with eight hundred head of stock to be captured, would you? they have gone off to the staked plains.”
i noticed while coyote bill was talking that[336] the guns were scattered all around, and you will, no doubt, wonder that i did not catch one of them up and turn the tables on them. there was a price of five thousand dollars set upon the head of coyote bill, and it would have been a fine thing for me to march them all in as prisoners, but i knew a story worth two of that. one was, i didn’t know how many pistols bill had about his person; another was, there might be some men in camp a short distance away who would upend me before i fairly got the gun pointed; and furthermore, i was firmly convinced that if i did just as i was told to do, my release would come in good time, and without the necessity of shedding anybody’s blood. i tell you it stands a fellow well in hand to take all these points into consideration.
breakfast over—and we ate it in a hurry, everyone being obliged to cook his bacon on a forked stick over the coals—there was nothing left for us to do but get under way. according to bill’s order, i picked up my saddle and followed him through the woods to the prairie, and there i found my horse tied up to[337] a brush. i was glad to see him again, and when i got on him he was all ready for a race. during the whole of that day we travelled without scarcely exchanging a word, but i noticed that at the top of every swell the outlaws stopped and carefully examined the ground before them. but no one was in sight, and finally, just as the sun was setting, we came within sight of bob’s ranch. there was no one about it, not even a steer or a horse. i saw that bill carried my weapons about with him, and i thought that now was his time to hand them to me, but bill had different ideas in his own mind.
“appearances are often deceptive,” said he. “carlos, suppose you ride on and see if there is anybody about that house. if you don’t find anybody, wave your hat to us.”
“anybody can see that he has a fine chance for escape,” snarled henderson, who was as mad now as he had been the night before. “i wish i had your power!”
“what would you do with it?” asked coyote bill.
“i would let him feel one of the bullets in[338] my pistol,” said henderson. “you won’t get anything out of that ranch as long as you let him escape. he heard every word you said last night.”
“did you, carlos?”
“yes, sir; i did,” said i. i thought i might as well tell the truth as tell a lie. my heart was in my mouth, but i looked bill squarely in the eye.
“well, i want to know if you are going to tell it?”
“if you tell me not to, i shan’t. i won’t say anything about it while you are around. i shall go for the states as soon as i can get there, and tom will go with me.”
“that will suit me exactly. i am satisfied. now, go on and see if you can find anything around that ranch.”
coyote bill touched his hat—i have thought more than once from the way he saluted that he had been in the army—and i rode off. some things, which i had gone over so many times that i had them by heart, promptly came back to me. i wondered if any man who was captured by hostile indians was ever[339] treated that way before. what coyote bill saw about me; whether he thought there was something that reminded him of other and happier days, i don’t know. anyhow, he had saved me from a horrible death, and for that i was grateful. i don’t believe there was another man in the world that could have done it. my horse neighed shrilly as he approached the house, but there was no one who came out to answer him. i kept on till i got to the porch, and there i found the door open and everything in the greatest confusion. the ranch looked almost as bad as it did when tom mason got through searching for the lost pocket-book, only the things were not all piled in the same place. i got off from my horse and went in. bob davenport’s pillow was on the floor, but the heavy bag of gold which he had left after paying off his men was gone. i looked in the place where my money was hidden and found that it was gone, too. bob hadn’t left in such a hurry that he had forgotten to take his valuables with him. i knew that coyote bill was depending on something he never could find, but[340] then i freely forgave him. it was a plan of his to aid me in my escape. when i had fully satisfied myself that the money had been taken, i went out on the porch and waved my hat to bill, and then i went into the grove to look where sam noble had concealed his, but that also had been taken away. poor sam! he would never miss his money now. and i wondered what had become of the other two cowboys. i didn’t like to enquire about it.
“it is gone, is it?” exclaimed bill, who at that moment came galloping up. “well, we have had our trouble for our pains. how do things look in the house?”
“you can go in and see, but everything that will be of use to you has been removed,” said i. “are you going to burn the house?”
“burn it? what should i want to burn it for? i want bob to come back here and live.”
“and you are mighty foolish for telling me of it,” said i to myself. “i will never let him stay in this house again. that’s one thing that i didn’t promise to keep to myself.”
[341]
coyote bill tossed his reins to his man and went in, but he did not spend much time in looking around. it was plain to him that no money could be concealed there, and finally he came out, took my rifle off his back and handed it to me.
“there you are,” said he, “and i want you to understand that the gun hasn’t been fired since you gave it up. there’s your revolvers. now buckle them around your waist, so that i can see how you look.”
i wondered what bill was thinking of when he did this, but i took the belt and put it around my waist where it belonged, and looked up for the man to tell what else he had on his mind.
“now, henderson, you’re even,” said bill. “you said, if you had the power, you’d make him taste one of the bullets in your pistol. now go ahead.”
i turned toward henderson, and saw that his right hand was fumbling with the pistol in his holster. a minute more and he would have me covered with it. i looked toward bill to see what he thought about it.
[342]
“you’re even,” said he, stepping back a pace or two. “you have got more weapons than he has.”
i saw the point coyote bill was trying to get at, and in a second i had henderson’s head covered with one of my revolvers.
“hands up!” said i hotly; and his hands came up.
“bill, i didn’t think that of you,” said henderson, who was fairly beside himself with rage.
“you told me that all you wanted was to get the power in your hands,” said bill. “now you have it, and i don’t see why you don’t use it. be quick!”
i kept my eyes fastened upon henderson, and, fearing that bill’s taunts might lead him to do something wrong, for which he would always be sorry,—for there was a good deal of derision in what bill said, and it showed what a high estimation he had of henderson’s courage,—i held my revolver in readiness for a shot, and stepped forward and took his gun from its holster and handed it to bill. the latter took it with an expression of great disgust[343] on his face, looked at it a moment, and sent it as far out on the prairie as his sinewy arm could throw it.
“i don’t see what your object is in shooting me, who haven’t done you any harm,” i said, addressing myself to henderson, “but i tell you not to attempt anything with that rifle. if you do, i will tumble you off your saddle!”
“henderson will not attempt to shoot us with that,” said bill. “if he does he will have three of us to contend with, and i think that is rather more than he can manage. now, henderson, go for austin as soon as you can get there.”
“and give up my share of those thirty thousand dollars?” exclaimed henderson, his astonishment getting the better of his alarm. “now, bill, that isn’t right!”
almost before henderson had got through with these words of protest, bill’s hand laid hold of his revolver, while with the other he pointed out the direction he was to follow. i noticed that jack’s revolver came out also—he had been sitting in his saddle all this time—and rested across the horn, directly in range[344] with henderson’s person. he saw that everything was up with him, and without saying a word turned his horse and rode away; and i may add that was the last i ever saw of henderson. we went to austin a short time afterward, and, although we kept a bright lookout for him, not a thing did we see of him. whatever became of him i don’t know.
“well, carlos, so-long,” said bill, when henderson had ridden away out of hearing. “i hope you will reach the states in safety. put it there.”
“are you going to leave me here?” said i, overjoyed.
“yes, i reckon we might as well. what do you say, jack?”
“let the kid go. he’s a brave lad,” returned jack.
“now, bill,” said i, as i took the outlaw’s hand in mine, “i want to say something, if i thought you would not take it to heart.”
“no preaching, now!” said bill, with a laugh.
[345]
“no, i won’t preach. why do you do this?”
“well, that’s preaching, and i didn’t agree to answer every one of your questions.”
“you see something about me that reminds you of days when you did not do this way,” said i. “that person don’t know where you are, and——”
“that’s neither here nor there,” said bill impatiently. “so-long, carlos. come on, jack.”
jack reached down from his saddle in order to give me a good shake, and then clattered off up the prairie after bill. i stood and watched them for a long time, but neither of them looked around, and finally the nearest swell hid them from sight. there was something good about that man, and i never heard of him afterward. probably he lost his life in some of his numerous raiding expeditions. but there was one thing about it: he left one boy behind who was sorry for him.
