There was no response to this challenge. The Indians were brave men, and the Cheyennes, at least, were much irritated at the death of their champion; but not one among them cared to try conclusions with such a redoubtable fighter as Kennelly had shown himself to be. Suddenly Buffalo Bill rose from a clump of bushes in which he had lain concealed, and stalked, a majestic figure, into the circle of light cast by the glow of the fire. To say that the Indians were surprised by this sudden apparition is but faintly to convey their absolute amazement. They looked as if a ghost had suddenly emerged into their midst. The renegade Kennelly was not less astonished. He stared at the border king for a moment, and then sat down heavily upon the ground, picked up his discarded pipe, and began to fill it with tobacco. Buffalo Bill surveyed the scene for a moment with quiet amusement, and then said, in the Sioux tongue: “Greeting to you, chiefs and elders of the Sioux, Cheyenne, and Crow tribes! I have heard the challenge thrown down by Bad Eye, and I come into your midst to accept it. “You know me for your enemy. I am Long Hair, and I have slain many of your braves. But I come fearlessly among you for the ordeal by single combat, for I know your code of honor must give me a fair start on my horse after the fight is over, supposing that I come out of it victorious. Is it not so, oh, chiefs?” Cody’s action might have seemed to the outsider to be nothing else but suicide. To a man acquainted with the Indian laws of chivalry, however, there was nothing so very extraordinary about it. One of their most stringent rules was that an enemy who challenged one of their braves to the ordeal by single combat must be held sacred, like an envoy under the white man’s flag of truce; and after the fight was over he must be allowed a good chance of retreat. The oldest chieftain by the camp fire, after looking round the circle and catching the eyes of his comrades, acted as spokesman. He bent his head gravely, and said: “It is as you say, Long Hair. You are a great warrior, and your fame has been sung by our young men round the camp fires. You shall fight Bad Eye if you desire to do so, and at the end, if you live, you shall go forth unharmed and bestride your horse, and ride away from us. None of our braves shall seek your scalp until you are half a mile distant.” Buffalo Bill saluted the chief gravely, after the Sioux fashion, and then turned to Kennelly, who sat smoking and glowering at him, and asked: “What weapons?” “Tomahawks,” growled the renegade, as he rose to his feet and fronted the border king. Nick Wharton had followed Buffalo Bill, after a moment’s pause, due to his absolute amazement at the bold course Cody had taken. His appearance did not alarm or surprise the Indians. Too many startling events had happened that evening for one more to have any effect on them.