Buffalo Bill Among the Sioux; Or, The Fight in the RapidsIngraham, Prentiss
General
Buffalo Bill Among the Sioux; Or, The Fight in the Rapids
Ingraham, Prentiss
Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917 -- Fiction; Dime novels
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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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