Buffalo Bill, the Border King; Or, Redskin and CowboyIngraham, Prentiss
General
Buffalo Bill, the Border King; Or, Redskin and Cowboy
Ingraham, Prentiss
Buffalo Bill, 1846-1917 -- Fiction; Dime novels; Indians of North America -- Fiction; Scouts (Reconnaissance) -- Fiction
The girl looked back again. Her beautiful face had paled, losing all
its naturally rich coloring. Although Buffalo Bill had held her in
his power only the day before and had not harmed her, this wild child
of the forest and plain saw no reason for his sparing her now. And,
indeed, there _was_ no apparent reason. She saw in his attempt to
capture her instead of killing her outright, merely the desire of the
warrior to parade a captive before his admiring brethren, and then,
perhaps, she would be made a slave as the redskins made slaves of the
white squaws they stole!
White Antelope had no reason for believing in the honor and tenderness
of white men. She had been taught from childhood that they were her
deadly enemies. Her mother had died too soon after her birth to instil
into the maiden’s mind any different belief than that held by the
savages about her.
So the girl looked back at Cody in terror, and made up her savage mind
to die rather than be captured by the scout.
But she would sell her life dearly as may be. The day before Long
Hair, as she called him, had disarmed her of the light revolver which
had been a most precious possession. Now she had only her bow and
arrows--a weapon that is not easily used in shooting behind one while
the pony is at full speed.
But this was what the girl tried to do. She strung her bow and seized
an arrow from the quiver which hung over her shoulder. Then, while the
pony was still paddling along the trail at his best pace, she turned
her agile young body about, drew the shaft to its head, and let drive
at the coming scout.
He ducked as he saw her action; but the shaft went through his hat and
carried it away. Instantly she fitted another arrow to the bowstring
and sent it likewise at her enemy. Cody slipped over on the far side
of Chief, hanging by toe and one hand to the running animal, an Indian
trick that no brave could do better than the scout himself. The second
shaft went over his saddle in about the place his heart might have been
had he been sitting upright!
The Indian maiden was not to be balked so easily. She turned again to
urge her pony on, hoping, it is likely, that Long Hair would bob up
into the saddle again. But he saw she had a third arrow on the string,
and he remained where he was.
But to tamely endure such a persecution as this was not the scout’s
intention. Besides, he feared that the White Antelope might shoot Chief.
As he slung himself over the side of the big white horse, Cody had
drawn one of the loaded pistols from its holster. With this gun he was
a marvelously accurate shot. It had a barrel almost as long as the
old-fashioned derringer, and in the hand of a trained marksman could do
the execution of a finely sighted rifle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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