"There is one thing to be thankful for," he mused. "I don't believe he captured Nellie Winthrop again after he left the cave. I wonder what has become of that girl?"

Bonnie Bird had wandered down the brook for a drink and instantly returned at her master's call. With something of a sigh at not having finished matters with Yellow Elk the boomer leaped once again into the saddle and turned back in the direction from whence he had come.

It was now growing dark, and the great scout felt that he must ere long return to the boomers' camp and give the order necessary to start the long wagon train on its way westward to Honnewell. Little did he dream of what the government spy and the cavalrymen had discovered and how Jack Rasco had been taken prisoner.

"p.a.w.nee!"

It was a cry from a patch of woods to the northward, and straining his eyes he saw Cal Clemmer waving his sombrero toward him. Scout and cowboy boomer were soon together.

"Well, whar's Rasco and the gal?" were Clemmer's first words.

"Both gone--I don't know where, Cal. Where are the other boys?"

"Started back toward Honnewell; thet is, all but d.i.c.k Arbuckle. He's over ter yonder spring gittin' a drink o' water."

"I am sorry I failed to find the girl," said p.a.w.nee Brown. "She must have wandered off in the woods and got lost. I am quite certain the Indians did not spot her again."

"And Jack?"

"Went off after his horse."

"Wot do yer advise us ter do--stay here?"

"I am afraid staying here will do no good, Cal. I must get back to camp and start the wagons up. I know they won't move a step unless I am personally there to give directions. The old boomers are all afraid of being fooled by some trick of the soldiers."

"Thet's so. Wall, if yer want me ter stay here I'll stay--otherwise I'll go back," concluded Clemmer.

d.i.c.k now came up, as anxious as Clemmer had been to know the news. His face grew very sober when he heard that Nellie had not been found.

"I wish I knew more of this territory--I'd go after her myself," he said, earnestly. "I hope you won't abandon the search?"

"Oh, no, lad; that is not my style. But I must get back to the camp first and start the train along. I'll be on this ground again by midnight."

"Then why can't I stay here? I am not afraid."

"Alone?" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Clemmer.

"Yes--if you want to join p.a.w.nee."

"By gosh, but that boy's nervy fer a city chap!" cried the cowboy boomer, in admiration.

"Well, you know there's a girl in this, Cal," rejoined p.a.w.nee Brown, dryly. "And I reckon she's a girl well worth going through fire and water for."

At this d.i.c.k blushed.

"I want to find out about Rasco, too," he hastened to say. "You know I was going through with him, and he was going to do some business for my father, later on."

The matter was talked over for several minutes, and it was at last decided that d.i.c.k should secrete himself in a thicket and stand watch there or close by until he heard from p.a.w.nee Brown again.

"Be on your guard, boy, for enemies may be thick here," were the boomer's last words of caution. "Don't uncover to anybody until you are positive it is a friend."

"And here's a bite for yer," added Clemmer, handing out some rations he carried in a haversack. "You'll get mighty hungry ere the sun comes up again."

In a minute more the two hors.e.m.e.n were galloping away. d.i.c.k watched them until they were lost to view, then dropped to a sitting position on a flat rock in the centre of a clump of trees.

The youth's heart beat rather strongly. He was not used to this sort of thing. How different the prairies and woods were to the city streets and buildings.

"Lonesome isn't a name for it," he mused. "Puts me in mind of one vast cemetery--a gigantic Greenwood, only there aren't any monuments. What is that?"

There was a flutter and a whirl, and d.i.c.k grasped his pistol tighter. It was only a night-bird, starting up now that the sun was beginning to set.

Soon the woods and the prairies began to grow dark. The sun was lost to view behind tall trees which cast shadows of incalculable length. It grew colder, too, and he b.u.t.toned his light coat tightly about him.

To pa.s.s the time he began to eat some of the food left behind by Clemmer. It was not particularly appetizing, and in the city d.i.c.k might have pa.s.sed it by for something better. But just then it tasted "just boss," to use d.i.c.k's own words. A bracing air and hunger are the best sauces in the world.

An hour had gone by, and all was dark, when d.i.c.k started up from a reverie into which he had fallen. What was that which had reached his ears from a distance? Was it a cry, or merely the moaning of the rising wind?

He listened. No, it was not the wind--it was a cry--a girl's voice--the voice of Nellie Winthrop!

"It is Nellie!" came from his set lips, and his face grew pale. Again came the cry, but this time more faintly.

From what direction had that cry for help proceeded? In vain the boy asked himself that question. He was not used to a life in the open and the rising wind was very deceptive.

"I must find her!" he gasped, leaping from the rocks. "I shan't remain here while she is in trouble."

He had no horse the men being unable to provide him with one when they had come together, but for this he did not care. He was resolved to aid the girl if such a thing were possible.

Away he went over the prairie at a rapid gait, in the direction from whence he imagined the cry had proceeded. Two hundred yards were covered and he came to a halt and listened. Not a sound broke the stillness, although he fancied he heard the hoof-strokes of a horse at a great distance.

Then he turned in another direction, and then another. It was all to no purpose. No trace of the girl could be found. He gave a groan.

"It's no use; she's gone and that is all there is to it. Poor girl!"

With a sinking heart he set off to return to the spot from whence he had come. He advanced a dozen steps, then halted and stared about him.

Suddenly an awful truth burst upon him. He was lost among the brush!

CHAPTER XIX.

NELLIE MEETS VORLANGE.

What had that awful cry heard by d.i.c.k meant?

To learn the particulars, we must go back to the time when Nellie Winthrop started to escape from the cave in the cliff.