CHAPTER XLI.

WONDERS OF THE SACRED MOUNTAIN.

On the appointed day Buffalo Bill and the pards who accompanied him on the previous trip rode northward to visit the “Daughter of the Moon.” On the way out the pards wondered if the “Queen of the Stars” would be there to greet them, or were they going on a fool’s errand?

No one was in sight as they approached the butte which the Indians called “Sacred Mountain.” They rode entirely around the cone and scanned the plain in all directions. Not a living thing was to be seen besides the birds and a solitary antelope a mile away.

“What d’ye say ter thet, Buffler?” asked Nomad.

“I think we had better put our horses down in the crevasse, where they can’t be seen from the plain, and then hang out here and smoke and wait.”

The horses were snugly corralled in the rock-bound fissure, where a savage ten rods distant could not discover them. It was an ideal hiding place, and half a dozen well-armed men could defend it against a regiment.

“Suppose I blow ‘general’ on my bugle?” suggested Tootsie, when arrangements had been completed.

“Go ahead, if you please,” said the scout.

Five minutes after the bugle call, Miss Mona appeared at the top of the mountain. She waved her hand in greeting and then disappeared.

The pards wondered what the next move would be, when the girl suddenly came out from among the horses and said:

“If the gentlemen will kindly step this way they will be treated to a little surprise.”

Buffalo Bill stepped briskly forward and his pards followed. They passed the horses in the cleft and came to what appeared to be an abrupt ending to the crevice; but the girl turned a sharp angle at the very end and entered a break underneath the wall forming quite a respectable room. At one side of this a hole in the rocks led under the mountain itself. The girl crouched and entered and the pards kept near her.

After stooping and crawling for a rod or so, the passageway opened out until they could stand erect in comfort, in a place lighted by a torch.

The party traversed some distance, and then came into the bright sunlight again, except that instead of the sunburned clay and rocks they had left, they saw before them a magical bower of beauty. Here beautiful flowers nodded welcome and green grass stood knee-high. Birds were singing happily, and the whole place seemed the realm of a fairy.

“I knew we’d go ter heaven ef we follered ther angel,” said old Nomad decisively.

“Welcome to the home of the Daughter of the Moon,” said the girl, bowing low in mock gravity.

“We accept your splendid hospitality in fear and trembling, O Queen of the Stars,” returned Buffalo Bill, removing his hat and also bowing extravagantly.

“And now,” said the girl, “I will introduce you to some friends of mine.”

She whistled sharply, and from a cluster of conifers in which the top of a tepee showed, a tall, handsome, soldierly-looking young man came forth, and leaning on his arm was a handsome young woman.

“Buffalo Bill, and your _compadres_, allow me to introduce to you Lieutenant and Mrs. Avery,” said the girl of mystery.

The lieutenant and his bride advanced rapidly to greet the scout and his pards, and general congratulations followed.

Mrs. Sherley came forward and was introduced, and soon announced that a luncheon, which had been prepared in anticipation of the event, was ready to be served.

And what a joyous occasion it was.

The young officer anxiously asked about everything at the fort, and was told of all the news, including the attack on the supply train.

Lieutenant Avery declared that he was well enough to go on duty now, and he would return to the fort as soon as the general would send horses.

The scout promised to convey the message, and said he would guide an escort to the Sacred Mountain for the officer and his wife.

“If there were any means of sending word to the fort we should be pleased to have Buffalo Bill and his pards remain with us until the Lieutenant and Mrs. Avery return,” said Miss Mona.

Cayuse promptly offered to take the message, but Buffalo Bill demurred, saying that he presumed it would be best for all to return to the fort, on account of the horses.

Little Moonbeam instantly overcame that objection by saying:

“In our farming operations Mrs. Sherley and I have had use for an Indian corn knife and secured one. With that we can easily cut grass here and carry it to the horses. The cavern at the outer end of the passage is large enough for all of them, and no roving band of Indians would find them there. If they did they would not dare touch them.

“Mrs. Sherley and I have lived here years, and the Indians have never as yet even discovered the cavern, although leaving offerings in the crevasse as often as once a month. Inside the cavern, covered with a flat rock, is a pool of pure water--and thus we have the dumb animals provided for.”

“We accept your hospitality, and if you will produce the corn knife we will proceed to feed the animals at once, so that Cayuse may be on his way early in the afternoon.”

The horses were led into the cavern and given water and grass. Then Nomad thought he had better stay with the animals, as he said:

“Fer fear that cantankerous ole sarpint ov er Hide-rack’ll git p’inted in ther wrong direction an’ cut loose ’th them weepins o’ hisn.”

Skibo “reckoned” he had best remain with Nomad, and so only the scout and Tootsie were left with the Averys and their hostesses.

After Cayuse had been gone some time Miss Mona invited the scout to accompany her to the top of the wall. Tootsie was asleep in the grass and the lieutenant and his bride had retired to their bower.

Far to the south could be seen Little Cayuse, jogging along toward the fort. The girl became greatly interested in the scout’s field glass, never having seen one before. She was delighted with the way it jumped Cayuse back a mile or so in his journey, and she laughingly exclaimed:

“What a trim little Indian he is! I can see his feather with the glass.”

Several miles to the westward a small herd of buffalo were feeding.

“A peaceful scene,” said the scout.

“Yes, and how great and desolate it is! Except for this little garden of Eden below, it is two miles to grass and water--yet I love it and hate to leave it, but----”

She paused and looked curiously at the scout.

“But what?” he asked.

“I want your advice,” she told him.

“I’ll give you the best I have in stock,” he said.

“I have had a glimpse of my own people and a dream of the great world beyond where I can see. They have told me of the wonders of the cities and the great schools of girls, where they learn so much that I yearn to know.

“I love this place and Mrs. Sherley is contented, but I feel as if there were something more in the world for us. I long for companionship of my own age--sweet girls who would put their soft arms around me and love me.

“Oh! Mr. Cody, when I think of these things it seems I cannot wait. And yet, where should I go and what should I do? Neither Mrs. Sherley nor I have a relative in the world of whom we know or can ever expect to find. What shall I do?”

The girl had worked her feelings up to the point of tears, when the scout interposed to give her opportunity to control herself.

“If you had means to go direct to some Eastern school, with Mrs. Sherley to accompany you and remain with you, it would be well enough for you to start out for an education; but the pitfalls of civilization, before a young lady of your beauty, are far more numerous and dangerous than those of the Bad Lands, because of the attractiveness of one and the repulsiveness of the other.”

The girl looked at him, not half understanding his meaning.

“There are thousands of men with much money and little honor who are on the watch for such innocents as you are. If you had friends with whom you could remain and attend school, Mrs. Sherley could readily find employment that would pay the way for both of you. Perhaps we can bring it about through the families of some of the military men. Keep up your courage and I will see what can be done; but I cannot allow this opportunity to pass and neglect to warn you, if you go out in the world, to be suspicious of everything, and place yourself under the guidance of an experienced and reliable female friend.”

He would have gone on, but the girl, whose eyes had fixed upon him in wrapt attention, turned away for a moment, and then she sprang up and extended her hands in mute greeting toward a pitiful little figure making its way across the plain toward them.

The scout instantly recognized the little daughter of Black Coyote.

“Poor little thing!” said the girl, with tears in her eyes and her heart full of pity. “Black Coyote is dead. He wished to die there where his tribe deserted him. He would not come here and the child would not leave him. I told her to come to me when the Great Spirit came for her father. She is coming.”

She watched the child for a moment, and turning to the scout, said:

“There are three of us now, but the case is not hopeless. I have much more to talk to you about to-morrow--or by this evening’s moonlight. Let us go down and meet Laughing Water.”