"But Cody believes you to be dead." "How so, sir?" "He wished to find you, so tracked you into the Grand Canyon, to find your house buried beneath a fallen cliff, and he thought you were beneath it all." "No, sir, I escaped; but as you are going to seek Buffalo Bill may I join you?" "You may join me, Mr. Seldon, and I shall be glad to have your company," said Surgeon Powell, as he rode along by the side of the gold-hunter. "I will be your guide to the deserted camp, sir; but do you expect to find Mr. Cody there?" "I hope so, but should he not be I shall await him." "I am glad to hear you say that, sir, for I am most anxious to see him, and I will tell you why." "If you care to." "I know your secret, Surgeon Powell, and am delighted to feel that I will have your aid as well as Buffalo Bill's in what I wish to do." "And what do you wish to do, Mr. Seldon?" "I will have to ask you to keep my secret, sir." "I will do so." "Well, Surgeon Powell, I am a miner, and I strolled into the Grand Canyon of the Colorado in my prospecting tours, and there discovered several rich gold claims. On my way there it was that I came upon a camp, and in it I found an unfortunate fellow who was wounded, yet bound securely. "He had gone out in search of gold with a desperado by the name of Black-heart Bill, and, finding gold, the other sought to rob him of it, so shot him. Failing to find it, he was anxious to have his victim recover and show him where it was, intending then to kill him. "It was while Black-heart Bill was away from his camp that I came to it, and I heard his victim's story. Upon the return of the man I recognized him as an old foe of mine, one to whom, with others, I owed a wicked life. "I forced him to fight me a duel, and he fell. I buried him and cut his name on the quaking aspen near his grave, and then, nursing the wounded man to life, we went to his gold find. It did not pan out very rich, so I went to one I knew of, down in the Grand Canyon. "While I was away at W---- to get provisions, my partner heard the cliff cracking, and so moved away, up the canyon to another mine we had. He was just in time to save his life, for the cliff fell, and Buffalo Bill was in the valley that night with a comrade and heard the terrific roar of the falling cliff. "They believed that my comrade and myself were buried beneath the mountain of rock, but we were gazing at them the while and watched them ride away. Some time after I found that others had come into the canyon, and I discovered that it was a camp of outlaws, while more still, I saw that they had a female captive. "I crept near enough at night to hear and see all, and I saw a young and beautiful girl, and the outlaw lieutenant held her a captive for his chief, until a large ransom was paid for her by the miners of Last Chance.