“Ho, scout, what have those fellows been doing?” The speaker was a storekeeper in the camps and a man of considerable prominence, being captain of the Vigilantes. He stood in front of the Frying Pan, where he had gone to get his supper. “I was coming along the valley, sir, near Deadshot Dean’s cabin, and went up to take a look at it, when I saw those two men trying to break in the door. Here is the ax and the bar they used. I climbed upon the roof and had them where I wanted them, so made them prisoners, determined to bring them to Pocket City and turn them over to the miners, with a statement of the facts.” “They have a very bad record, sir, and have got their heads at last into the noose. Remember, Tom and Jerry, it has not been a week since I warned you that you were getting to the end of your rope. You, sir, I am told, are Buffalo Bill, chief of scouts at Pioneer Post?” “I am, sir.” “Then turn over your prisoners to me for trial by our miners’ laws, sir, for I am Scott Kindon, captain of Vigilantes and proprietor of the Miners’ Market, as my store is called. I am glad to meet you, Buffalo Bill, so dismount and be my guest at the hotel to-night.” Buffalo Bill dismounted and led his horse to the stables. He was shown to a pleasant room, where he freshened up for supper, and found every attention bestowed upon him by the clerk whom Bonnie Belle had left to manage her affairs in her absence, and who seemed anxious to treat the scout well. Bonnie Belle’s quarters were all securely locked up in her absence, but otherwise the hotel was in full blast and the Vigilante captain and Buffalo Bill sat down to a very tempting supper. The prisoners had been placed in safe hands and with their guards were eating supper near, so the scout had an opportunity to see how much kindness was bestowed upon the two men. “You see the boys wish to do the best they can for them, as they regard them as dying men,” explained the storekeeper. “Dying men?” “Well it amounts to that, as we shall try them after supper, and that means a verdict of guilty.” “What is the use of trying them if the verdict is assured?” asked Buffalo Bill, with a smile. “Well, for effect. You caught them trying to break into Deadshot Dean’s cabin and rob it, and you brought here with you the implements they used, while you bear testimony to their guilt.” “True, but why not run them out of the camps, under penalty of death if they return?” “That would never do, for, of course, every fellow that is run out has a purse made up for him by the sympathetic miners, and hereafter every man that wanted money would do some act to be sent away for, whereas if we try these men, find them guilty and hang them, Pocket City will rid itself of two notorious scoundrels and their end will serve as a wholesome lesson for others.” “Well, if they are all you say they are they deserve hanging, yet I suppose it would have been better for me to have taken them to the fort to get justice.”