His horse was hidden in the grove two hundred yards off, and at first he thought of reaching it and riding hurriedly away. But he hesitated; and then, seeing an opening, he crawled under the floor. “I’ll just hear what that scout and the girl aire talkin’ about,” he said. “And I’d like to know about them emeralds, if he or she has got ’em. He was to have given ’em to her. But I’m gamblin’ he ain’t any honester than other folks, and that he ain’t said a word to her about ’em. I’ve got to git my fist on ’em, er know why. Great howlin’ tomcats! Them gems aire worth a fortune that would make these hyer little common fortunes you hear about look sick. I’m bettin’ Buffalo Bill never hints a word to her about ’em. He’d be a fool to, and he ain’t a fool!” He was hiding under the floor when Buffalo Bill and the girl came to the cabin and entered it. To his surprise, they were speaking of the emeralds which he had been sure the scout would never mention to her. “Oh, she’s got ’em now, has she?” he thought, as he heard the talk. He pressed an ear to the boards above his head. “Oh, ho! He thinks there’s danger that some one will git onto the fact that she’s got ’em, and that she’s in danger with ’em in this section of the country. I reckon he don’t dream that I’m already onto the fact that there aire such gems; that I came on him when he was givin’ his promise to old Gordon there in the mountains, and that I follered him, hopin’ to git a chance to pinch ’em; and that I fired the pines, believin’ that I could roast him, and afterward git them emeralds from his dead body. Well, I ain’t got ’em yit, but I’ll have ’em!” Though he so desired those emeralds, all his efforts to get them had been sneaking and cowardly in the extreme. “I’ll have Bruce go with me, and I’ll let him carry them,” he heard Lena say. “I’m going East, Mr. Cody, for a little visit, and perhaps Bruce can go part way with me, on the stage.” “Bruce! Bruce!” the rascal muttered. “Who’s Bruce? So he’s to carry ’em, is he? He’s sweet on the girl. I’ve heard that she has a ‘steady,’ and that they’re going to marry. She’ll have him go with her, and she’ll have him carry the emeralds, for no one will ever think of him carryin’ ’em. That’s the game, is it? Oh, no; nobody will ever think of that!” The listening rascal slapped his leg so hard in his jubilant mood that he became startled; the sound of talking ceased. He heard the scout walk to the door, and then walk back. “That was my horse, I guess, made that noise,” he heard the scout say. The man crouched into as small a space as he could, and lay shivering, fearing now to breathe. Soon he heard the talking going on again.