CHAPTER VII.

DEW DROP AGAIN TO THE RESCUE.

Hurriedly the outlaws dropped to all fours and resumed their hazardous attempt at escape.

The bushes that grew in the ravine, fortunately for them, were of sufficient height to conceal their bodies as they advanced. Yet mere concealment, they knew, was not sufficient to insure their safety.

Should the keen eyes of soldiers or savages detect a suspicious movement among the brushwood, the hue and cry would instantly be raised.

And, aware of this full well, the six sorely pressed bandits crawled with infinite stealth.

So near were the troopers that the creaking of their saddle leathers was audible, followed almost instantly by the snapping and cracking of twigs and bushes as the horses picked their way gingerly down the steep side of the ravine.

Eagerly the eyes of the cavalrymen searched the bottom of the gorge, bent on discovering the forms of the horses, as their captain had commanded.

So thick was the tangle of brushwood, however, that it was several minutes after the desperadoes had heard them crashing into the ravine ere their hearts were set a flutter by excited cries, breaking from several mouths at the same time:

"There they are! On the farther side!"

The announcement of the discovery was received with wild cheers.

"Where? Which direction?" yelled those of the troopers whose sight was unable to discern the dark forms of the ponies writhing in their suffering.

"To the East! To the East!" answered the ones who saw them. "Come on! Come on! We've got 'em."

Wild with the excitement of the soldiers at the prospect of capturing the desperate cutthroats who had defied all efforts of an army of man-hunters either to kill or to take them into custody, so successfully.

Yet scarce had the cries of the exuberant troopers rung out than their commander bellowed:

"Give 'em a volley before you ride at 'em. They're tricky devils!"

In the exigencies of the moment all thought of military discipline was forgotten.

The captain knew his men and the men knew their captain. Many a punitive expedition had they ridden on before, against outlaws and renegade redskins alike and no need was there to waste time in giving book-rule commands.

No sooner had the words of caution left the officer's lips than the troopers threw their carbines to their shoulders, sighted them on the dark, struggling forms in the brushwood and pulled the triggers.

With deafening roar the guns spoke.

Straight and true sped the bullets.

But instead of stopping the heart beats of any of the James gang they simply put an end to the miseries of the maimed ponies.

As the report of the broadside rang out over the plains, the cavalrymen urged their mounts forward, eager to be in at the death.

In the stress of their emotions, they had not noticed that no shots had been fired at them.

Had they been more calm, this fact alone would have told them the outlaws were not by the ponies.

And it was not till they had reached the bodies of the beasts, dismounted and searched the nearby bushes that they found that Jesse and his band had again outwitted them.

But when the fact dawned on them, loud and forceful were their curses.

"Beat up and down the gorge!" shouted the lieutenant, believing that the mistake of his superior gave him a license to issue commands.

"Shut up, you dunderhead!" roared the captain, his face livid with rage. "I was chasing men when you were in swaddling clothes. I know how they act.

"_The bandits have crossed the ravine and struck into the brush beyond! After them!_"

In a wild scramble, the troopers mounted the farther side of the ravine, gained the edge and were soon lost to view.

And as the world-famous desperado, peering cautiously from the brushwood, saw they had vanished, he heaved a mighty sigh of relief.

Terrible, indeed, had been the suspense of the six men crawling on hands and knees under cover of the bushes.

On their ears alone had they been obliged to rely to tell them what was transpiring about them, for they dared not raise their heads to look, lest the eyes of the troopers decry them.

When they had heard the crash of the volley, Jesse had turned toward the very bank from which it was fired.

And as the soldiers descended to learn the result of their shots, the outlaws had crept up the steep incline.

Of necessity, their progress was slow and not more than half way to the top were they when the words of the captain, expressing his belief that his quarry was on the farther plain, had reached them.

Still crawling, the bandit-chieftain had waited till he thought sufficient time had elapsed for all to have gained the plains before he ventured to look to make sure.

And when he found that the cavalrymen had, indeed, disappeared over the opposite bank, he quickly apprised his companions.

"I'll bet my hair's turned white," ejaculated Wild Bill. "I ain't never been through no such tryout before an' I don't want to agin."

"Don't crow too soon," admonished Comanche Tony. "We ain't clear yet--by a long shot."

"Right you are, pard," declared Jesse, "And it doesn't look as though we'd get clear," he added. "Duck, boys, duck! Here comes the Injuns! Skirt the edge of the bank!"

Luckily for themselves, none of the outlaws had risen from the brushwood so that their chief's exhortation was unnecessary and, with agility born of desperation, they struck westward along the crest of the gorge.

When they had seen the troopers change their direction and rush madly after the fleeing bandits, the savages had checked their pursuit, all but the five whom Jesse had sent to the Happy Hunting Ground.

No love did they bear for the soldiers and they were not eager to mingle with them, even though they were engaged in the chase of a common foe.

Hurriedly Great Bear had passed the word for silence and, sitting on their ponies like statues, they had advanced at a walk.

Not even the roar of the carbines had induced the chieftain to increase the pace.

But when he saw the forms of the cavalrymen mounting the farther edge of the ravine, he became interested.

"Jess Jame fool um paleface!" he grunted, his eyes twinkling with delight. "Sojers no get Jess. Injun got chance."

If the bandits had, indeed, taken to the plains across the gorge, Great Bear knew that he and his braves were as likely to find them as the troopers. But because he was wise in his generation, the wily old warrior again enjoined his braves to silence that they might surprise the little band had they doubled on their tracks as he more than half suspected.

The shoeless hoofs of their ponies making scarcely no sound because of the thunderous charge of the cavalry on the farther plains, the redskins bore down on the ravine.

But, as the reader knows, Jesse had seen them and, with his pals, was scurrying from their path.

The Indians slowed up as they reached the edge of the ravine, then descended, crossed, mounted the other side, and swept on in the trail of the soldiers.

Pausing as he heard the bucks plunge into the gorge, Jesse parted the bushes at his side, peering at the dark, tossing forms.

Cautiously his pals followed his example.

Never had men seemed to move so slowly as did the Indians in crossing the gulch.

But at last only a few stragglers had not mounted to the plains.

"Quick, boys! Crawl to the top of the bank, only keep under cover!" whispered the world-famous desperado.

With alacrity his companions obeyed.

A rod he led them, still on their hands and knees, after they had gained the level.

"There's no danger of our being seen now, I reckon," he declared, rising to his feet. "But we won't run any risk by showing too much of ourselves.

"Come on! While the Injuns and troopers are searching the other side of the ravine, we'll get back to the cliffs on this."

Overjoyed at their escape from the foes, which seemed little short of miraculous, the bandits broke into a swift, steady jog trot that carried them rapidly over the ground.

Nearer and nearer they approached the rocks that towered majestically ahead of them.

But just as safety seemed within their grasp, Frank gasped:

"I'm all in! The--wo--wound--in--my--leg."

And he sank to the ground, in collapse.

Muttering an oath under his breath at this misfortune when all was going so well, Jesse hurried to the side of his brother and the others joined him.

"Take an arm, Texas," snapped the bandit-chieftain, as he put his own hand under Frank's left shoulder and lifted him to his feet.

Quickly the other obeyed and, supporting their exhausted comrade between them, they resumed their progress toward the cliffs.

"I reckon we might as well go back into the canyon," asserted the world-famous desperado.

"We'll climb up to the table land where we rescued Tony and rest for a few days. We can see all about us. No one can surprise us and the bucks and troopers would never think we'd go back.

"We'll be able to find something we can eat."

This suggestion met with the approval of the others and the little band bent their steps toward the black cleft that marked the entrance into the rocky defile.

Occasional glances behind them told them that none of the pursuers had returned from the chase.

Indeed, no moving object could they discover in any direction and, with hearts beating light at their successful escape from the blood-thirsty, revenge-craving savages and the cavalrymen whose ire had been roused by their strategic errors, they were just about to enter the canyon when a lithe figure darted toward them from behind a boulder.

"It's more of the red devils," snarled Wild Bill, whipping out his guns. "We _are_ smart--I don't think. While we've been patting ourselves on the back, they've been lying here, waiting for us."

Yet the alarm of the outlaws was short-lived.

Ere any of them could draw their weapons, a voice cooed, softly:

"Don' shoot! Don' shoot! Me Dew Drop!"

The relief the words brought to the bandits, who feared the fruits of their desperate escape and retreat were to be snatched from them, was inexpressible and it was turned to outright joy as the Indian maiden continued:

"Dew Drop take um Jess Jame to safe cave. Heap food. Heap water in pool. Then Dew Drop leave. Injun move camp, Dew Drop got go."

"Then if they're going to take you along, they haven't got wise to your hiding us in Kaw-Kaw's cave, I judge," exclaimed the bandit-chieftain, glad to know the assistance which had been so opportune to his little band had brought no trouble to the girl.

"Squaws no know. Bucks forget 'fore get back. Um go on raid. Sojers no be in forts now," returned Dew Drop.

"Sorry I didn't pot more of 'em if that's what they're up to," grunted the world-famous desperado.

But his good fairy did not understand what he meant and prattled artlessly.

Skirting the base of the precipice, Dew Drop passed the mouth of the canyon and led them more than a mile beyond, stopping when she reached a fissure that ran from top to base.

Squeezing into it, the bandits were plunged in darkness.

Putting his hand on his guide's shoulder, Jesse bade his men hold onto the one in front of him and in single file they advanced till they could feel from the change in the air that they had reached the cave.

"Dew Drop no stay," declared the maid, slipping from the bandit-chieftain's hand. "Mus' join um squaw. Paleface fin' grub, water. So long."

And, ere any of the outlaws had the time to protest, the Indian maiden sped from them, leaving them in the unknown cave in pitch darkness.