Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler

OR,

THE LAST OF THE INDIAN RING

BY Colonel Prentiss Ingraham

Author of the celebrated “Buffalo Bill” stories published in the Border Stories. For other titles see catalogue.

STREET & SMITH CORPORATION PUBLISHERS 79-89 Seventh Avenue, New York

Copyright, 1909 By STREET & SMITH

Buffalo Bill’s Boy Bugler

(Printed in the United States of America) All rights reserved, Including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian.

IN APPRECIATION OF WILLIAM F. CODY (BUFFALO BILL).

It is now some generations since Josh Billings, Ned Buntline, and Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, intimate friends of Colonel William F. Cody, used to forgather in the office of Francis S. Smith, then proprietor of the New York Weekly. It was a dingy little office on Rose Street, New York, but the breath of the great outdoors stirred there when these old-timers got together. As a result of these conversations, Colonel Ingraham and Ned Buntline began to write of the adventures of Buffalo Bill for Street & Smith.

Colonel Cody was born in Scott County, Iowa, February 26, 1846. Before he had reached his teens, his father, Isaac Cody, with his mother and two sisters, migrated to Kansas, which at that time was little more than a wilderness.

When the elder Cody was killed shortly afterward in the Kansas “Border War,” young Bill assumed the difficult rôle of family breadwinner. During 1860, and until the outbreak of the Civil War, Cody lived the arduous life of a pony-express rider. Cody volunteered his services as government scout and guide and served throughout the Civil War with Generals McNeil and A. J. Smith. He was a distinguished member of the Seventh Kansas Cavalry.

During the Civil War, while riding through the streets of St. Louis, Cody rescued a frightened schoolgirl from a band of annoyers. In true romantic style, Cody and Louisa Federci, the girl, were married March 6, 1866.

In 1867 Cody was employed to furnish a specified amount of buffalo meat to the construction men at work on the Kansas Pacific Railroad. It was in this period that he received the sobriquet “Buffalo Bill.”

In 1868 and for four years thereafter Colonel Cody served as scout and guide in campaigns against the Sioux and Cheyenne Indians. It was General Sheridan who conferred on Cody the honor of chief of scouts of the command.

After completing a period of service in the Nebraska legislature, Cody joined the Fifth Cavalry in 1876, and was again appointed chief of scouts.

Colonel Cody’s fame had reached the East long before, and a great many New Yorkers went out to see him and join in his buffalo hunts, including such men as August Belmont, James Gordon Bennett, Anson Stager, and J. G. Heckscher. In entertaining these visitors at Fort McPherson, Cody was accustomed to arrange wild-West exhibitions. In return his friends invited him to visit New York. It was upon seeing his first play in the metropolis that Cody conceived the idea of going into the show business.

Assisted by Ned Buntline, novelist, and Colonel Ingraham, he started his “Wild West” show, which later developed and expanded into “A Congress of the Rough-riders of the World,” first presented at Omaha, Nebraska. In time it became a familiar yearly entertainment in the great cities of this country and Europe. Many famous personages attended the performances, and became his warm friends, including Mr. Gladstone, the Marquis of Lorne, King Edward, Queen Victoria, and the Prince of Wales, now King of England.

At the outbreak of the Sioux, in 1890 and 1891, Colonel Cody served at the head of the Nebraska National Guard. In 1895 Cody took up the development of Wyoming Valley by introducing irrigation. Not long afterward he became judge advocate general of the Wyoming National Guard.

Colonel Cody (Buffalo Bill) died in Denver, Colorado, on January 10, 1917. His legacy to a grateful world was a large share in the development of the West, and a multitude of achievements in horsemanship, marksmanship, and endurance that will live for ages. His life will continue to be a leading example of the manliness, courage, and devotion to duty that belonged to a picturesque phase of American life now passed, like the great patriot whose career it typified, into the Great Beyond.

CHAPTER I. “RED DICK” AND “FIGHTING DAN.”

It had come out of the long familiar war between the cattlemen and sheepmen. “Red Dick” and “Doc” Downs, cattlemen, were on trial for the shooting of Josh and Cabe Grey, sheep herders, and the slaughter of three hundred sheep. A typical Western crowd had drifted into Bozeman, including many soldiers from Fort Ellis. It was noon and the sun hung high and blazed down relentlessly on the perspiring spectators, as they poured out of the stuffy courtroom, at recess. Red Dick and Doc Downs were to be taken across the street to the hotel for lunch, and the crowd settled across the way to cheer or hiss the prisoners, as its sympathies dictated, as the handcuffed men were led forth by the officers.

Red Dick was known as a bad man and he looked the part. He stood six feet three in his stockings, was straight as an arrow, and, without an ounce of superfluous flesh, weighed 190 pounds. Contrary to the suggestion of his cognomen, he was not of Indian descent, but below the belt of tan at his neck the unbuttoned collar revealed skin as white as marble. It was a mass of curly, fiery-red hair that had given Richard Davids, from Vermont, his nickname in the West.

Red Dick’s steely gray eyes flashed, his hawk-bill nose sniffed contemptuously, and his short-cropped red mustache[6] twitched nervously as he was led out of the courtroom and the hiss of his enemies fell on his ears.

Then came hoots and howls and verbal insults, intermingled with “tigers!” and “good boy, Dick!” “We’ll stand by you, Red!” etc.

At one time it seemed probable that the factional spirit among the spectators would lead to riot, as the feeling ran high and the crowd began surging back and forth about the prisoners, preventing the advance of the officers in charge.

At that moment there was a commotion far down the street, a clatter of pounding hoofs, a wild yell and a fusillade of revolver shots. Then there burst on the view of the crowd a figure so startling as to, for the moment, drive all thoughts of the prisoners from the minds of the wrangling spectators.

It was a great, rawboned, buckskin stallion, tearing up the main thoroughfare at a terrific pace, headed directly at the startled crowd. Astride the animal was a man to match—a tall, gaunt, broad-shouldered fellow in buckskin trousers and red flannel shirt, his long mustache sweeping back about his neck and fluttering in the wind with the corners of the handkerchief knotted there. In each hand the recognized “bad man” carried a big revolver with which he was boring holes in the ether by way of announcing his approach.

The horse, with wide-distended nostrils and showing belts of white around the iris of its eyes, dashed madly at the crowd, which scattered like chaff.

Almost upon the officers and their prisoners the big rider yelled:

“Whoa!”

The animal stopped so suddenly that it sat upon its haunches and slid for a yard or two while the rider[7] seemed almost precipitated over its suddenly dropped head.

He landed squarely in front of the officers, his towering height now seen to the full, with a gun in each hand, and leaning far forward until his black and flashing eyes were on a level with those of Red Dick, he bellowed:

“So yo’re ther skunk thet plugged my brothers, air ye?”

Red Dick, with all his boasted bravery and deeds of dare-deviltry, cowered before the newcomer.

“It’s ‘Fighting Dan’ Grey!” gasped the crowd, as it scurried for quarters beyond the line of the big guns, which they felt sure were soon to be in action.

The officers shrank, too, and reached for their own guns in a half-hearted way.

Big Fighting Dan disdained the motion to draw on him, except to roar:

“Keep yer pepper boxes under yer co’t tails, officers, er it’ll be bad fer yer digestion.

“An’ so yo’re it! hey?” he boomed again.

“Waal, yo’re in ther han’s o’ ther law, jes’ now, an’ old Dan respects ther law, but Heaven hev mercy on yore pesky hide if I ever set my eyes onto yuh outside o’ ther clutches o’ ther sheriff an’ his men.”

Shoving his guns into his belt, the dark man continued:

“But I’m hyar an’ yo’re hyar, so now’s ther time ter pay my complerments—an’ thar yew hev um!”

He had suddenly reached forward, and, before the officers could protest or others divine his intention, he had grasped Red Dick by the chin with one hand and by the curling red hair with the other, and tipped the prisoner’s head far back. Then an amber stream left Dan’s dark lips, and Red Dick’s face ran with tobacco juice as he was released, a spluttering, raving, helpless wretch, while Fighting Dan turned away, swung into his saddle, and[8] with a few parting shots dashed down the street and disappeared.

Taking advantage of the dazed condition of the crowd, the officers hurried their prisoners into the hotel.

Red Dick’s handcuffs were removed to allow him to wash the tobacco stains from his face, but he was in too much of a rage to eat. He sat and indulged in savage mutterings by way of intrenchment of his vow to torture Fighting Dan at the stake, if he—Dick—ever got out of the grip of the law.

Doc Downs had little to say. He had escaped the wrath of Fighting Dan, for which he was thankful, and the sympathy and hatred of the crowd seemed to centre on Red Dick, rather than on him.

Doc was shrewd enough to keep still and remain in the background. Doc was not a practicing physician, as one might infer from his nickname. If there was anything which Doc knew less about than another, it was the application of drugs or the uses of lance and bandage. For some reason which never had been explained, Doc’s parents had given him the prefix “Modoc.” As a boy he had been “Mo,” and then “Mod,” now “Doc.”

Doc wasn’t smart enough to be a first-class bad man, although he had aspirations in that direction, and he was too indolent to earn an honest living. So, when Red Dick, the dashing cowboy, blew into town one day and flourished a wad that would have blocked the pathway of a four-year-old steer, Doc hitched onto the tail of the curly-haired comet.

There was one thing Doc could do—cook—and by means of that seldom-exercised talent he had won the favor of Red Dick.

Doc’s allegiance to his employer had got him into this[9] fuss. With Red he had flourished guns and swaggered before the sheepmen on the ranges. And one day, when the mix-up came with the Greys, Doc had closed his eyes and blazed away as Red Dick had done. When he saw the Greys down, rolling on the ground and groaning, he became panicky and would have bolted, but for Red Dick, who ordered that every sheep on the section be shot. Then the two had spent the remainder of the day in riding down and slaughtering the innocent animals.

Doc was sorry, and he had no hesitation about saying so—when Red Dick was beyond hearing.

The sympathies of the cattle raisers were with Red Dick, even at this early day, for they had begun to feel the increasing encroachment of the sheep herders on the range. The sheepmen backed the Greys, who had been seriously wounded in the encounter, as well as sufferers financially in the loss of three hundred sheep. The Greys were quiet, peaceable ranchers, and considered honest by those who knew them.

Fighting Dan was the black sheep in the Grey family. Dan was big, and fierce, and courageous, and a gambler. He tore big holes in the atmosphere and made lots of noise, but he had never killed his man, in spite of his reputation. Dan’s favorite method was physical, unarmed violence. Two ordinary men were as boys in his grasp. He delighted in seizing a disputant at cards, to whirl the victim high above the top of his own head, which was six feet and a half above the floor.

Fighting Dan had once taken possession of a saloon that had won his disfavor, and poured liquor down the proprietor’s throat until he was unconscious. Dan had then set up the drinks for everybody in sight for half a day.

CHAPTER II. THE BAD MAN.

The night of the opening day of the trial of Red Dick, Buffalo Bill and several of his pards struck town. With the scout were Hickok, Little Cayuse, and Skibo, the giant negro. Old Nomad was on the way, and might be expected to “lite” at any hour.

The scout’s orders were direct from the secretary of the interior at Washington. The encroachments of the cattlemen and sheepmen upon the Indian reservations and various clashes with the red men were breeding discontent, and promised a serious outbreak. Buffalo Bill had been instructed, also, to quietly look into the conduct of some of the Indian agents in the Northwest. Complaints were finding their way to Washington, and the rival political party was making campaign material out of them.

If the Indians were being cheated and robbed by unprincipled officers, the department wished to make an example of said officers and preserve peace and the good will of the Indians.

Intruders were flocking upon the Indian lands in search of gold, and herds of the white men grazed where no human foot had the right to set, except that of the red man. The buffaloes, which were the main source of food supply for the Indians, were slain by thousands. Excursionists and others shot the animals, and their putrefying carcasses thickly dotted the plains.

It was coming to the knowledge of officials in Washington that there was an “Indian ring,” which included[11] a corrupt gang of miscreants at the national capital in league with others in the West. Through this band of rascals the Indians were provided with worthless rags for blankets and wretched meat in place of the supplies called for by treaty contract and provided by the government.

By the manipulations of unscrupulous agents and land thieves the cultivated lands of the Indians were being taken from them, and tracts of deserts substituted.

Buffalo Bill well knew that the whites were trampling on the rights of the red men, and his sympathies were known among both shades of skin.

Sitting Bull, the famous chief, had always hated the palefaces, and, nursing the wrongs of his people, he now refused to sign a treaty giving up certain lands. He had been threatened by bumptious officials, and on the strength of these threats he had gone among the powerful Sioux tribes, and exhorted them to prepare for war.

Such men as Generals Sheridan, Canby, Miles, Custer, and others foresaw serious difficulty with the Indians at a time when the general public in the East had been lulled into a sense of security in the belief that the Indian question had been settled for all time.

Buffalo Bill’s mission was to soothe and quiet the Indians, so far as possible; at the same time he was bringing to justice the leaders in as corrupt a gang as ever went unhanged. He found the whites not only robbing the red men, but at war among themselves over grazing rights.

Enforcement of the law was a farce, and right was much a case of might.

Bad men flourished and boasted themselves terrors of the universe. These wild and woolly fellows seldom[12] met, but exercised their blatant powers over the more submissive portion of the public.

Buffalo Bill’s arrival had not been heralded, and he was not recognized at the most pretentious hostelry of the Gallatin Valley. With his pards he made up a quiet little party, who might have been attracted to town by the trial. No one seemed interested to the point of curiosity, and the scout was gratified that it was so. The men he was after might not so soon take alarm.

It was a typical border aggregation that thronged the tavern that night, the air filled with tobacco smoke and fumes of liquor and vibrating with loud talk.

Late in the evening Fighting Dan Grey appeared. He was “liquored up” and looking for trouble. He was dodged by all who could avoid him, but led men by twos and threes to the bar to drink his health. He was well supplied with the yellow metal, and everybody had to drink whom he invited.

Later Dan’s mood changed, and he wanted to play cards. He roped in one man, and desired two others. Far back in a corner the scout and the Laramie man sat smoking and watching the constantly changing aspect of a night gathering of Westerners going through all stages of acquiring a state of intoxication.

Fighting Dan espied them, and led his victim thither.

“Hyar are ther ombrays thet I propose ter hev er game er cyards with.”

Dan slammed a table across in front of the scout and Hickok, churned the partner he had impressed into service into a chair opposite one for himself, and said:

“Thar! I reckon the’s goin’ to be a game. Hyar, yew long-haired fellar, ketch holt an’ shake ’em out.”

Buffalo Bill smilingly humored the big, black bad man, whose counterpart in character he had seen many times.[13] Hickok, too, sat in good-naturedly, and the quartette proceeded in a friendly game. The scout and the Laramie man won the first hand, and then Fighting Dan insisted that all go to the bar and “wash ’er down” at his expense.

The scout and Hickok declined. The bad man was in a towering rage at once. He smote the table with a bang that attracted the attention of every man in the room, and then he bellowed:

“So yer refuses to swaller pizen with me, does ye? Waal, Dan Grey won’t eat that kind o’ dirt fr’m no long-haired ombray this side o’ Tophet.”

Buffalo Bill sat calmly and smilingly, awaiting the subsidence of the bad man’s spasm.

Hickok held the deck, and idly shuffled the cards over and over. The other seized the opportunity to escape.

Half a hundred men turned all attention to the corner where sat the unruffled scout confronted by the roaring, dark-visaged giant.

Little Cayuse had entered, followed by Skibo. They were attracted to the scene at once. Skibo edged through the crowd until he was at Buffalo Bill’s back, and said in an undertone:

“’Scuse me, Mars’ Billyum, but don’t you want ole Skibo to squelch ’im?”

“No, no, Skibo; thanks. I guess it will soon blow over.”

But it didn’t blow over, and the bad man worked himself into a perfect frenzy while raving at the unterrified scout.

“I’ll make a pin wheel o’ you over my head,” he roared, leaning forward and grasping Buffalo Bill by the shoulders.

When he had done that the man from Laramie suddenly[14] kicked the table over, and left nothing between the bad man and his intended victim.

Dan attempted to change the hold of one of his huge hands from the scout’s shoulder to the thigh for his usual spectacular performance, but he found his own wrist suddenly caught in a viselike grip.

The bad man struggled for the release of his arm, for a moment, and was manifestly surprised that he could not readily wrench the imprisoned member from the grasp of any man.

And then, before he realized the possibility of such a happening, the bad man felt his opponent step in close, and the next instant he was whirling through the air, to land on a table and crash with it to the floor.

Fighting Dan got up slowly, and for a moment stared at the scout in dazed surprise; then he reached for his guns. Before his hands had fairly touched their butts he found himself peering into the sinister-looking muzzle of the scout’s rigid revolver.

“Hold on, amigo!” he shouted; “I wa’n’t goin’ ter shoot; I was on’y goin’ ter take off me weapons an’ git ready ter mop up this hyar barroom with ye.”

“All right, neighbor; if that is your game I’m agreeable.” And without a quiver the scout handed his own gun to Hickok and stepped forward.

Dan deliberately laid his big revolvers on a table, spat on his hands, and then suddenly rushed.