“I will stand up to you and fight you, if you wish; but first I wish to offer you an apology for striking you last night. If you care to accept it our duel need not take place. It is for you to decide.” The men standing around were amazed--and not least among them young Mainwaring. Buffalo Bill apologize and try to avoid a duel! It seemed incredible, but his courage was so well known that he could afford to do what would have branded any other man as a coward. It was the price he paid for Mainwaring’s life, although the young man never knew it. Ketchum did not share the surprise of the rest. He understood perfectly. “I accept your apology, sir,” he said, with a clumsy attempt at dignity. “As you suggest, the duel need not take place.” The two men bowed to one another, but did not offer to shake hands. The whole party then strolled home to breakfast at the little hotel. Buffalo Bill and Mainwaring walked together, arm in arm. The young rancher tried to find out what had induced his friend to apologize to Ketchum, but the border king dodged the subject. “I wonder what made the fellow spare me when he had me at his mercy,” the young fellow said, as they walked onto the front veranda of the saloon. “I wonder!” Cody echoed, smiling inwardly. “I suppose it must have been because there was some slight streak of decency in his nature, after all--though I confess it seems hard to believe,” said Mainwaring. “Yes, it does seem hard to believe when you know the man,” Cody remarked, smiling now openly, somewhat to the surprise of his friend. As they sat down to breakfast with the Doyles, May remarked brightly: “You two were out early this morning, were you not?” “Yes; we took a little stroll for the benefit of our health,” the knight of the plains replied. “I suppose you feel that it has done you good?” “Oh, yes! It has given us a good appetite.” Not a word was said about the duel, for Cody had a suspicion that the girl returned the love which Mainwaring confessed he felt for her. He did not wish to alarm her more than was absolutely necessary, and he felt that he had only played the first game in the rubber with the Death Riders. The stake that hung upon that rubber, as he well knew, was nothing less than life or death; but he believed that he could play out the game successfully. Later in the day, on making inquiries, Buffalo Bill found that Ketchum had taken his horse, sold all his belongings, and driven away from Danger Divide. He evidently had not cared to stay in the place after the proceedings of the early morning, or perhaps he feared that the king of the scouts would still call him to account in a manner that would prove fatal for him. Everybody in the place was agreed that his departure was “a good riddance of bad rubbish,” and the only people who felt any regret at his vanishing were his creditors.