He laughed to himself as he lifted the girl; laughed at the thought of outwitting the scout; laughed at the consternation which his deed of desperation would create in the fort; and while thus laughing cast a glimpse into the near future. “I’ll get that gold, and then off for some other country!” The girl moaned as he threw her brutally on the back of the horse and took the reins of the other horses. Climbing into the saddle he held the girl in front of him, and permitted the horses to walk quietly out of the little trees and away over the soft grass, which was so like a carpet that their hoofs made hardly a sound. Yet this sound Buffalo Bill heard, as he left Smallpox Dave and started again in pursuit of Barlow. But crafty Barlow, drawing rein and sitting in silence, also heard the scout, and he drew the girl closer to him. “My dear, now we’re going to have a ride such as you read about!” She shivered as she came back to consciousness, or at least partial consciousness. “Where am I? And where are you taking me?” “My dear May, you are with your ever-devoted servant, and we are off for a little ride. We’ll make it a pleasure trip, and perhaps there will be a wedding come of it very shortly. You don’t know me? Well, just at present I’m Reckless Joe, known hitherto as Lieutenant Joel Barlow. And here we go!” He drove his spurs into the flanks of the horse he was riding, lashed the others, and was soon riding at wild speed away from the fort and straight out into the deep darkness of the night. He heard the whiplike report of a revolver, and knew that Buffalo Bill had fired it to rouse the fort. “Catch me who can!” he muttered. “It will be a long race, and I know where I am going.” CHAPTER XXVI. STARTLING NEWS. Buffalo Bill knew that successful pursuit of Lieutenant Barlow would be difficult. Barlow had a good start, and the night was dark. Nevertheless, after firing that shot intended to arouse the fort, he ran to get his own horse, and found it gone. He was searching for it when the palisade gate flew open, and Corporal Clendenning and some troopers rode forth, to see what the shooting meant. The scout called to them. “I don’t like to make accusations against an officer,” he said, as they joined him, “yet I must ask that an immediate pursuit of Lieutenant Barlow be made; and I will lead, if you will furnish me with a horse. Mine is gone.” “Lieutenant Barlow!” gasped the amazed Clendenning. “There is a man out here whom I have captured,” the scout went on. “A man came over the wall from the inside with a girl in his arms, and this man tried to help him. I failed to stop what seemed to be an abduction; the abductor escaped, and took the girl with him. The man who is now my prisoner confessed that the other man was Lieutenant Barlow. The girl is the young lady who was brought here charged with the theft of that nugget. You will, I’m sure, find her gone.”