“I think you are right. But while they’re getting ready to beat the door down, or fire the building, or some other pleasant diversion,” said the scout, “you might tell me, Nomad, what several times you have said you wished to tell me.” Nomad laughed in his chuckling way. “Buffler, I’d ’a’ told ye long ago, but every time, as you’ll reck’lect, John Latimer was nigh and listenin’. Then ther thing got ter be a sorter joke wi’ me, and I kep’ it goin’ fer ther fun of it. But when fust I come ter this hyar house----” Even yet old Nick Nomad was not to be permitted to tell his secret; for the outlaws made another rush at this instant, and they jammed against the door a heavy beam of wood, making the panels snap and the stout hinges groan. Buffalo Bill fired a shot through the door, but it was not a deterrent, and when the log of wood hit the door again the panels splintered and the door fell. In the dim light a number of men were seen, and their faces were lighted by the flashes of the scout’s pistols. Some of the men went down; but the others rushed on, cursing and howling, treading on the bodies of their fallen companions. Buffalo Bill and his friends fell back before this deadly rush, knowing that their position was too exposed. The result was that the door was left undefended and the outlaws swarmed through into the house. The scout and his companions made their way at once toward the room which held the hidden trapdoor, intending to defend the room as long as they could, and then retreat by way of the tunnel to the river. But before they gained this room the mysterious young man appeared before them, beckoning. “This way!” he called, in a shrill whisper. “Don’t hesitate! Your lives depend on it!” Yet Buffalo Bill hesitated, though the cursing outlaws were in the hall behind him and coming on, held only in temporary check by a healthy fear of his revolvers. “Shall we resk it, Buffler?” Nomad asked. A rush of outlaws toward them along the hall caused Buffalo Bill’s hesitation to vanish. “Yes,” he said, answering Nomad. Then they followed the young man, who made a dash toward the kitchen. When they gained that, ahead of the pursuers, the young man stopped long enough to fasten the door, which was provided with a heavy bolt and chain. “This way,” he said, again. A cupboard apparently built solidly into the wall he now swung outward, revealing back of it a door. “In here,” he said. “Quick!” The outlaws were already at the closed kitchen door and hammering on it in a way to make the bolt and chain rattle. The air of the young man was so kindly and anxious that Buffalo Bill entered the dark opening behind the cupboard. Nomad hesitated, then followed, with Pizen Kate. When they had passed through and seemed to be standing in a dark, windowless room, the young man came after them, and closed the opening by swinging the cupboard back into position. “They’ll think we went on through the kitchen,” he whispered. “This way.”