Thus advised, Dick Danforth ordered his men to dismount, and they led their horses up into the rocky gorge Cody had chosen as a retreat. It would have been well for Danforth if he always so easily listened to the admonition of his elders and the better informed. Just inside the gorge was a yawning cavern in the mountainside. Evidently Cody knew of this retreat, even had he never been over the ground before. He led his big white horse with satisfaction into the dusky interior. “Hold on, Bill! The critters can’t feed in there,” Danforth objected, bringing his own animal to a stop. “All right. We’ll have to cut brush for ’em to pick over. There’s no safe feeding ground outside.” “But, hang it! how do we know who or what may be in that hole?” “Chief says there are no Injuns here, that’s sure!” retorted the scout, laughing. “But it may be a grizzly’s lair, or a cougar’s.” “Nope. Old Chief would have made remarks about it. Come on, lieutenant.” “Oh, I’m not afraid, if that’s what you mean!” grunted Dick Danforth, and with a nod to his file-leader, he followed the scout into the maw of the darksome cave. CHAPTER XXII. THE NIGHT PROWLERS. The frontiersmen--those who were Buffalo Bill’s associates--mapped the mountains and plains of the West long before Uncle Sam’s exploration parties ever penetrated the wilderness. Cody had never been to this hole in the mountainside before, yet he knew all about it. Hunters and trappers--and some early gold-seekers--had told him of its existence. It had been considered “bad medicine” by the Indians who inhabited this section of the country before the Sioux had flowed over into the land, and Oak Heart’s people themselves kept away from it. The scout was pretty sure that they had a sufficiently strong fortress here to withstand any ordinary attack. Besides, there was spring water in the cave, and, as he showed Danforth very quickly, something better still. As they advanced under the arched roof of the cavern, light appeared ahead. “There’s another opening,” said Danforth. “Looks like it.” “Why, they can get at us from two directions, Bill!” “Can they?” “You’re blamed cool about it.” “Might as well be cool as hot. We have got to take it as it comes.” The light grew apace. “What kind of a place is this, anyway?” cried the lieutenant. “Come along, sir!” “But the horses----” “Bring the horses along, too. I reckon I haven’t mistaken the place. Here we are!” As he spoke they came out into a roughly circular basin, surrounded completely by steep--aye, unscalable--rocks, but well grown to grass and bushes at the bottom. It was a veritable little pocket in the heart of the mountain. There was no escape from it, and no getting into it, excepting through the cave. Chief kicked up his heels, snorted joyfully, and broke away from Cody’s detaining hand. The other horses followed, and the whole herd set to cropping the sweet grass in equine delight. “Well, sir! This beats my time!” exclaimed Danforth.