The outlaw chief had been knocked down by the lamp and for a few moments was in no condition for fight; but he had rallied, and as none of the burning fluid had touched him, he was now out in the open air, shrieking his wild commands. Buffalo Bill took a shot at the outlaw chief; but another outlaw, who chanced to rush in front of the leader, got the bullet and fell. Then the scout was himself in the mouth of the gorge, with the prisoners running on at full speed toward the gulch trail. Buffalo Bill turned now and ran after them at his best gait, and soon overtook them. “Run as you never ran before!” he commanded. Taking each by the hand, he seemed to fairly lift them forward, as he sped in wild flight toward the point where he had left his horse. Behind them rose a terrible din in the outlaw camp, and a little later a red light shot up toward the sky, showing that the cabin they had so lately left was in flames. “They will be after us on horses in a minute or two,” said the scout, urging the fugitives on. Near the point where the little side cañon opened which held the bound and gagged sentinel, Buffalo Bill halted for a moment, just long enough to lift Rose Carter in his strong arms, then he tore on again, leading the way, with Carter racing heavily behind him. Fortunately, the camp was in such wild confusion that the scout and the fugitives were able to reach the spot where Midnight had been left before they were sighted by any of their pursuers. “Down, now!” the scout whispered. Behind them he heard the thunder of hoofs. And as the three--the scout and the fugitives--stooped to the ground, down the gulch came the horsemen riding now out into the increasing moonlight. A dozen men on horseback swept by, riding like the wind and heading for the open prairie, to which point they naturally believed the fugitives had hurried. The scout chuckled audibly as the last horseman thundered by. “Let them go,” he said, “they will find it a wild-goose chase.” Other horsemen were heard, and they also thundered by. Back in the little valley the flames of the burning cabin mounted higher and higher until the sky was brilliantly lighted. For an hour Buffalo Bill and his friends lay in hiding, with Midnight; and in that time the scout learned all that the prisoners had to tell of their capture, the burning of their home, the murderous deeds and the subsequent cruelty of the outlaws. It was a harrowing story. “Such debts can only be paid when those devils are wiped off the face of the earth.” “Hark!” said Rose. “Some one is coming, I believe.” “Yes; one of those outlaws is coming back,” said the scout. “I heard the hoofs of his horse some time ago.” He took his lariat as he said it, and stationed himself out by the side of the trail along which the outlaw rider would have to pass.