“I had her a captive, with others, but Buffalo Bill guided Lieutenant Worth, Sergeant Fallon, and others to my retreat and rescued the prisoners, destroying my band and making me fly as a fugitive for shelter with my good friend, Iron Eyes.” “I see.” “Now, I wish to get possession of Lucille Fallon, the sergeant’s daughter.” “Ah!” “And that is what I wish you to aid me in.” “I can do it if any man can.” “My plan is for you to notify me, by a letter left at a certain spot on the Overland trail, which I will describe to you, when I can get possession of her. She can be called to Pioneer City through an excuse of some kind to meet a lawyer there who will not come farther on, and I will hold up the coach and capture her.” “But your men are all dead or prisoners?” “Yes, but I am organizing another band out of new material, men who will serve my purpose even better than the others did.” “You wish to capture the girl and get a big ransom for her?” “That is just it, and Sergeant Fallon with her.” “You wish both?” “I do, the one for revenge, the other for gold.” “Well, I believe I can arrange it.” “You must understand the whole situation, the name of the girl’s lawyer in New York, something of the facts of the case of her inheritance, and just what to do. Now, when she was my captive, I looked over her papers, and I have the name and address of the lawyer, in fact, one of his letters, and I can forge his writing perfectly. “I will write the letter to her, mail it from Pioneer City, telling her that, writing as the lawyer, I cannot come any farther, as I am suffering with an attack of rheumatism, and that she and her father must come to me, the lawyer, mind you, by return coach. I will then lie in wait on the trail and capture them.” “A good idea.” “There is another thing: You must see to it that the girl’s jewels and money are taken along, though she must not know this. Smuggle them on the coach in some way, for you can get possession of them, intimate as you are at the sergeant’s home, and I will share with you.” “Thank you. I know where the money and jewels are kept, and I can get them, and will see that they go through with the sergeant and his daughter, never fear.” “Is Jack Jessop, the star driver, driving now?” “Oh, yes.” “It will be his last trip, for I’ll bury him on Monument Hill. He is too plucky a man to be in the Overland coach-driving business, and so he goes under.” “It is just as well, I guess, though I rather like Jack.” “Well, now, we’ll go over the whole matter again, and just as soon as you return to the fort notify me by letter what you think can be done, or if you can think of any better plan. The place to leave the letter is under the end of the third board of the Cañon River bridge, where it projects over the land, as I suppose it must, though I have not seen the new structure. At any rate, look well for a spot there, and I’ll find it, for I’ll take to the trail soon with my new band.”