Buffalo Bill did not send for the sheriff, because he had already planned to “put the kibosh” on the chief county officer in the general round-up which he hoped would soon follow. These men were not to be tried before a local court. In fact, he had cause to distrust the court itself. Some things he had seen had led him to suspect that the local judge was in league with Price and the others. And as for a jury drawn from the countryside, Price had furnished liquor for too many of them for the scout to take any chances. Buffalo Bill was aware that the most dangerous element of the “ring” was in Washington. There the plots were laid and such men as Price located where they could do the most good--or bad, as viewed from the standpoint of right and honesty. If other stations were as rotten at the core as this one there was work ahead for a long time to come. Buffalo Bill, like Kit Carson and other famous scouts, had learned to sympathize with the red men and to befriend these simple people in every way possible. The prisoner, known as Bloody Ike, refused to hold any conversation with the scout at first, venting his feelings in voluminous tirades and heaping vituperation upon them. Then Skibo lost his temper at some vile abuse, and, seizing the villain by the belt and shoulder, raised him above his head, as though he was about to hurl him over the precipice. Ike lost his nerve and begged for mercy. He was lowered to the ground and the powerful grip released only when he had promised to cease his abusive language. The doctor came and pronounced Hickok on the road to recovery. He had suffered external injuries, and the lack of attention and resulting fever had done the rest. With his temperature at nearly normal, his mind cleared up, and all he needed was care and light food for a day or two. The scout was impressed by the quiet earnestness of the professional man. There was much in his bearing to inspire confidence. The scout wondered why this university-bred youth had chosen such a remote field. Beyond earshot of Bloody Ike the physician asked why the man was bound. The scout frankly told him, and was rewarded by much valuable information concerning the working of this gang of gamblers, thieves, and cutthroats. The physician said the better element of the people feared for their property and lives if they openly opposed these thugs, of whom Price was the acknowledged head. Before departing the physician assured the scout that he should anxiously await a successful outcome of the latter’s mission, and said that if any information of value to the pards was discovered he would find some means to communicate with them.