CHAPTER XLIV. THE FIGHT TO GAIN THE ISLAND.

White Antelope sank to the bottom of the river; then, unlike ordinary swimmers, she did not move in a straight line, but shot off at a sharp angle, and endeavored to make the shore where Cody was, while still under water. But Boyd Bennett was quite as cunning. He cut across her path, and, as the girl came shooting in a long slant to the surface of the river, he reached and caught her by the shoulder.

White Antelope screamed and sought to wrench herself away. Cody had flung aside his rifle and urged Chief down into the stream. The white horse was already belly deep in the flood, picking his way intelligently, while his master, rope in hand, prepared to fling the loop to the Indian maiden.

But before Cody could make the cast, Bennett had grabbed the girl and thrust her under the surface again. White Antelope went down gurgling, and the cruel hand of the bandit chief held her fast. With an oath the scout seized a revolver and aimed at the black, sleek head of the scoundrel.

“Hold your fire, Bill Cody!” cried the bandit again. “Hold your fire, or I’ll drown this girl--as sure as you live, I will! She’s mine, and, by Heaven, you sha’n’t take her from me--unless it’s her dead body!”

“You devil, you!” roared the scout. “You are drowning her!”

“I surely will if you don’t put up your gun!”

“Let her up!”

“Put away your gun!”

The scout was obliged to do so. If he shot the scoundrel the latter might sink, his clutch still upon the White Antelope, and neither of them rise again until the breath had left both their bodies!

Boyd Bennett saw the scout put the gun back into his belt. He then dragged the girl up by her long, golden hair, and with her in his arms--she was now totally unconscious--he struck out with his free hand for the island. The scout seemed helpless. There was nothing he could do to stop the foe or free the girl. The situation stumped Buffalo Bill completely!

All the scout could do was to wait, hand on gun, for some chance to aid his cause. While Bennett struggled in the river with the girl he dared not fire for two reasons. One, already stated, was that he feared the man would sink with his burden and both be drowned; the other was that he feared his pistol-ball might wound the girl as well as Bennett.

And now it was not altogether sure that the scoundrel could make the shore of the island. He was weaker than he had been, and the burden of the girl bore him down. There was a current set off from the island on this side, and he had this to fight. And fight he did--with a bravery which Cody could but admire. He breasted the current, and fought inch by inch the downward drag of the river. It was too much for him, however.

Suddenly the bandit almost lost his hold upon the girl. Cody believed he was about to give her up and save himself, and he prepared to force Chief into the deeper current and so swim out for her. He swung his lariat again, too, that it might be ready for emergency. But, although Bennett was carried down-stream and the shore of the island was rapidly receding from him, he still clung to the Indian maid.

“Look out for the rope, Boyd Bennett! Catch it!” sang out the scout, believing that now the fellow would certainly rather save his life and lose the girl than lose both his own and her lives. But a sputtering shriek came back from the maniac:

“Fling your rope if you dare, Bill Cody! I’ll kill her if you do--mark that!”

“Don’t be a fool, man. You can’t save her and yourself.”

“Then we’ll both drown,” returned Boyd Bennett, with the determination of a still fearless man.

“I’ll give you your freedom!” roared Cody, at desperate straits now.

“I’ll not take it of you. If I die she goes with me--ah!”

A sudden eddy seized the man and swung him toward the island. He had evidently stored some remaining energy, and this he now put forth. He seemed fairly to leap forward in the water which was over his head near the bank. But he caught at a drooping tree-branch and held on.

Now, could Cody only have reached him, Boyd Bennett would have been at his mercy. But only for an instant did the weakness overpower him. He swung in shoreward, his feet found footing on a ledge of rock, and in another minute he clambered up out of the water, and, with the unfortunate girl still hanging limply over his shoulder, passed out of the scout’s sight!

The island was well wooded. It contained about half an acre and was long and narrow. It was so long that from the bank to which Cody had again turned his mount, he could not see whether the bandit found some immediate way of leaving it, and so reaching the farther shore of the river, or not.

There was no time to waste for Buffalo Bill, therefore. He must press after the man and the girl, giving the former no time to recover his strength, and, perhaps, make his escape from the island.

But Chief could not help his master across the deep water to the ledgy island. Nor could Buffalo Bill make it encumbered by his heavy accouterments. That was not to be considered for a moment!

He dismounted and let Chief go free. The old horse had done his share well, and as soon as he was relieved of the saddle and bridle, he lay down and rolled as though to get the cramps out of his body. The water of the river was ice-cold.

It even made Cody shrink when he contemplated it. His only way of reaching the island was by swimming, and against that current, and with the chill evening coming on, the scout might well hesitate. But not for long. What must be done would better be done quickly, and the Border King was well inured to exposure and cold. He threw aside his ammunition-belt and his weapons. His coat, waistcoat, and outer shirt went likewise. Off came his riding-boots, and then in his undergarment, and with his bowie between his teeth, he plunged into the flood and essayed the venture.

Whether he was being watched from the island by his enemy, Cody did not know. But this was the only way he saw to get at Boyd Bennett and the girl. He was matching his life against the bandit’s now, in the last desperate act of the series which had followed the abduction of White Antelope early the day before.