The result of this intimacy was that, shortly after their arrival at North Platte, there was an engagement entered into between each couple, to be consummated one year from that date. Then were the two bands scattered to the four winds of heaven, some remaining upon the frontier, among whom was Lone Dick, who returned to trapping, and Tom Sun, who entered the army under Major Wells. As for Captain Ramsey, he went East with his family, and purchased a home in Maryland, while Captain Edwin Archer started for New York to take possession of a fortune left him by a maiden aunt. Tired of a wild life on the border, and rejoiced to have found a beautiful daughter, Red Hand also left for New York, where he placed Pearl at school for one year. She became the bride of Edwin Archer the same day that beheld Ruth Ramsey married to Vincent Vernon, and well I know that every reader of these lines will wish them happiness as they journey through life together. The great scout, after solving the mystery of Red Hand, departed for military duty at Fort Hays. Notwithstanding the fact that Buffalo Bill was attached to the fort, his duties made it necessary for him to roam over the vast expanse of prairies and to aid travelers whenever he found them in distress. CHAPTER XLI. THE BRANDED BROTHERHOOD. Picture to yourself a bivouac of outlaws, a wild-looking but picturesque camp scene far out in the “land of the setting sun.” A “prairie sea” is upon every hand, here and there dotted with a timber island, a cool and refreshing covert from the heat of the plain. Miles and miles of land, unfurrowed by the plowshare, untilled by human hands, stretch away in boundless expanse as far as mortal vision can sweep. Winding its silvery length along, like a huge serpent crawling across the rolling prairies, is a clear and lazy river, its waters cold and inviting, coming from the icy fountains in the hills, and its banks flower-spangled and many-hued, while here and there a motte, or growth of timber, casts fantastic shadows across the stream. In the deep recesses and shady retreats of one of the larger of these mottes is this bivouac of bandits. The day is far spent, the sun is near its setting, and its last rays cause the tall trees to stretch their shadows far out over the waving grass, which, under the influence of a light wind, resembles the restless waves of the ocean. Into this encampment of the outlaws I would have the reader accompany me, in imagination, for there he will behold a scene never to be met with amid the boundaries of civilization. These men formed a wild and striking assemblage of horsemen, dismounted and gathered in groups, either preparing their evening meal around the blazing camp fires, or else indifferently lounging around, awaiting the completion of the culinary arrangements.