l me your name when you feel like it!" was the rejoinder. "As
to your honesty, if I think you are safe to travel with, you're safe to
trust my money with!"

"You're right. Your money is safe. As to my name, call me Jack. It is
short, if it isn't sweet. Some time I'll tell you the rest of it."

"All right, Jack. Take your own time. And now get all ready to start
either ahead or just behind the other party."

"We'll not go ahead. Where will you stay to-night?"

"Wherever you think best."

"All right. This old Dutchman keeps rooms for lodgers. You'd better stay
here, and if you don't want Bill to see you, keep pretty close in doors.
He'll be out in the Black Hillers' camp, or in the saloons where they
sell benzine and run faro banks. Bill is death on cards."

"So I've heard," said Mr. Pond, with a sigh.

Jack now went out, and Pond called the Dutch landlord to him and engaged
a room.

CHAPTER II.
PERSIMMON BILL.

As soon as the auburn-haired man who called himself Jack had left the
German restaurant, he went to a livery-stable near by, called for his
own horse, which was kept there, and the instant it was saddled he
mounted, and at a gallop rode westward from the town.

He did not draw rein for full an hour, and then he had covered somewhere
between eight and ten miles of ground, following no course or trail, but
riding in a course as straight as the flight of an arrow.

He halted then in a small ravine, nearly hidden by a growth of thick
brush, and gave a peculiar whistle. Thrice had this sounded, when a man
came cautiously out of the ravine, or rather out of its mouth. He was
tall, slender, yet seemed to possess the bone and muscle of a giant. His
eyes were jet black, fierce and flashing, and his face had a stern,
almost classic beauty of feature, which would have made him a model in
the ancient age of sculpture. He carried a repeating rifle, two
revolvers, and a knife in his belt. His dress was buckskin, from head to
foot.

"You are Persimmon Bill?" said Jack, in a tone of inquiry. "Yes. Who are
you, and how came you by the signal that called me out?"

"A woman in town gave it to me, knowing she could trust me."

"Was her first name Addie?"

"Her last name was Neidic."

"All right. I see she has trusted you. What do you want?"

"Help in a matter of revenge."

"Good! You can have it. How much help is wanted?"

"I want one man taken from a party, alive, when he gets beyond civilized
help, so tha