A flood of recollections deluged Alkali Pete’s mind. He nodded and smiled. “I reckon I’ll haul in my horns, Buffler. Ye’ll make it; jest how I kain’t conceive, but ye’ll make it, or thar’ll be a circus.” “And to make it I must be moving,” the king of scouts replied. “You must remain here with the colonel and Miss Hayden, Pete. I’ll be back before dark.” With these words he took Black-face Ned by the arm and moved away. Half an hour later, and ten minutes before the time fixed for the outcoming of the Apaches, Buffalo Bill and his prisoner reached the edge of the opening in front of the cliff dwellings. Wild Bill saw him coming, and rushed forward to meet him. “I am in time,” said the king of scouts, with a smile as hand met hand. “If you had come earlier you would have suited me better,” declared Wild Bill earnestly. “I have been worrying a bit about you. Thunder Cloud told Black Wing about the rattlesnake business, and I believed you were on velvet back there in the castle, otherwise I would never have left the place without trying to find you. But you are here at last, and I’m mighty glad to see you. You’re just in time to see a sensational spectacle. The Apaches are up in the cliff rooms now, but in a few minutes they will come out, and then Beelzebub will proceed to pop.” “I have heard about the trap you have laid for the Apaches,” said Buffalo Bill disapprovingly, “and I have hurried here to have you withdraw it.” “Withdraw it. Have you gone daffy, Cody?” “No, I am as sane as you are. Look here, Hickok”—speaking with serious earnestness—“you are a white man, aren’t you?” “I have always passed for one,” was the smiling reply. “What of it?” “Just this: A white man, the type of the higher civilization, does not lay traps in order to take a mean advantage of an enemy. He fights fair, he despises the tactics of the savage.” Wild Bill’s face flushed with anger. “Do you mean to insinuate that I have hatched up a low-down scheme to entrap the Apaches?” he said hotly. “Keep your temper, Hickok,” returned Buffalo Bill quietly. “We have been friends too long for any serious difference to arise between us. You have not yet coolly considered the situation. You have, I am sure, acted on impulse. Don’t you know that, if your plan goes through, the Apaches will be at the mercy of the Yelping Crew? They will come expecting to treat for peace. You and your crowd will be all ready for a fight. The announcement that it is war, not peace, will throw the Apaches into a state of consternation so that they will not be able to put up any kind of a fight against you. The scheme is unfair; it is more than unfair, it is——” “That will do, Cody,” interrupted Wild Bill, his countenance red with shame. “I see the point. I was hasty, reckless. I did not take a cold squint at the matter. The scheme won’t do. Come with me while I do some responsible haranguing. Time is mighty short, for the Apaches will be out of the holes in a minute.”