The scout was as good as his word. As soon as the moon arose and lighted up the prairie, he left the sleeping camp, and struck off over the plains, slowly following the trail of Ricardo and his band, after their deadly crime against poor Alfred Carter. CHAPTER L. PLOTTING MISCHIEF. Soon after the arrival of the train in the new settlement, the peninsula began to present a far different scene. The settlers had staked out their farms, chosen the sites of their cabin homes, and pitched their tents, until their houses could be built. No contention, no envy, existed among them; and the future promised brightly, as the whole male force worked upon the stockade fort, which was to be the common center of protection for all. One day Major Belden and his troopers dashed into the new settlement and was greeted with pleasure by all. The officer at once set his men to work to aid in building the stockade, and by many acts of kindness won the esteem of all the emigrants. With this extra force the work went bravely on, and in a very short time the walls of the stockade were up, and the large cabin fort was complete. Major Belden constantly haunted Sibyl Conrad with his presence. The girl’s kindness toward him he construed into a reciprocity of affection, and commenced building up hopes of making her his wife. Whether Howard Lawrence had changed his love for Sibyl none knew, as he was ever pleasant toward her; but certain it is that he appeared to relinquish in favor of the major, and suddenly became devoted to Ruth. The desolate cabin of Alfred Carter had become the home of Howard Lawrence, with all its surroundings. The settlers had drawn lots for its possession, and, having been the lucky winner, he had at once installed himself in his new residence, at the same time intimating that before long he hoped to have a housekeeper to look after his affairs. Thus passed the days at the peninsula settlement, or “Riverside,” as the settlers had named it; and still Buffalo Bill was absent. One evening, the day before the departure of Major Belden to the fort--whither he had ordered Captain la Clyde, the morning after his arrival in the settlement, that he might have no rivals in camp--the young cavalry officer suddenly rode up, followed by half a dozen dragoons. “Well, Clyde, what news from the fort?” the major asked. “Stirring times, major; and the general bids me tell you to report at once, as he wants you to lead an expedition to the south.” “Indeed! Well, we will depart to-night.” “Pardon me, major, but General Canton has ordered me to remain at the settlement until our friends have their cabins built and crops in, and I am to retain command of twenty of your men.”