“They were that. A hunnerd an’ sixty dollar team they were, an’ th’ buckboard was worth a hunnerd more. Och, wurra, but it’s me day f’r throuble!”
“What erbout et, Dell?” queried Nomad, his speculative glance on the girl. “Ye’ve got somethin’ in yer head thet lies er b’arin’ on ther sitiwation. Out with et. Thar’s er nigger in this hyar wood-pile, an’ we’re arter locatin’ him.”
“First off,” answered the girl, her attitude one of alert attention, “I want to know something about what recently happened at the Three-ply. The superintendent, Bernritter, and the cyanid expert, Jacobs, were mixed up in an attempt to steal the bullion from the mill clean-up, weren’t they? And Buffalo Bill and his pards jumped in, saved the bullion, stood off an attack of Apaches, and helped in the capture of Jacobs?”
“Thet’s erbout ther way o’ et,” returned Nomad. “A white tinhorn named Bascomb led the Apaches. He an’ Bernritter, an’ most o’ ther Apaches, got erway. Ther sher’f come out from Phœnix, last night, an’ took Jacobs back ter town. Buffler, an’ me, an’ Leetle Cayuse was goin’ ter foller ther sher’f on ther way ter Phœnix, bound fer Fort Apache, but McGowan asked us ter stay over. I had started ahead o’ Buffler an’ Cayuse, when I found Golightly in ther trap. I’m now givin’ him er lift back, ter make his report.”
“Then at the present time,” said Dell, “this fellow, Bascomb, and Bernritter, and a few red renegades, are loose in the hills?”
“Thet’s ther how o’ et. But I don’t reckon they’re loose eround hyar. Ef I figgers et right, Bascomb an’ Bernritter took er runnin’ start fer ther Mexican border.”
“That may be,” continued Dell reflectively; “then, on the other hand, they may be hiding out in this vicinity, laying their plans to play even with Buffalo Bill and his pards, and McGowan.”
“Ye don’t think et was Bascomb an’ Bernritter thet chased you, do ye?”
“I know Bernritter wasn’t one of the two,” flashed the girl. “No mask could keep me from knowing _him_. This Bascomb I don’t know anything about.”
“I do,” scowled Nomad, “an’ I could tell ther whelp with er without er mask, as fur as I could see him. He wasn’t one o’ ther two as chased you, Dell. Now, aside from Jacobs, thar was on’y two whites with ther Apaches when the Three-ply Mine was set upon. So these hyar two thet was chasin’ ye, bein’ neither Bascomb ner Bernritter, couldn’t hev had nothin’ ter do with ther trouble at ther Three-ply. Golightly says, too, thet ther men who was makin’ arter you was two o’ ther three thet put him in ther b’ar-trap and hiked out with ther buckboard. Mebbyso ther third man might hev been Bernritter.”