by man, and forsaken by Heaven!"

"It's safer to come by night than by day, for you and for me, Bill," she
said. "And I couldn't bear you should go away again till I had seen you.
And I've brought you a lot of things I know you'll need."

"I shall not need much of anything, Addie, on the trail I'm soon to
take. Your friend here I know is safe, or I wouldn't say so much. But
the truth is, the reds are going to rise in a body all over the north
and northwest, and we'll sweep the Black Hills, and clean out every
'blue-coat' that is sent to check the rising. The Sioux have made me a
big chief, and I'll have my hands full. If you hear of the 'White Elk,'
as second only to Sitting Bull himself, you'll know who it is."

"You, of course!"

"Yes, Addie; that is the name they have given me. And if the Sioux fight
as I think they will, and all the northern tribes join, we'll force a
treaty that will give us all the Black Hills and the Yellowstone, Powder
River, and Big Horn Country for ourselves forever. Then, my girl, and
not till then, can I make a safe home for you, and not till then will I
ask you to be my wife. For then the outlaw will be safe, and can live in
peace, and look for days of home and happiness."

"Bill, when you ask it, be it in peace or war, I am yours. You are brave
as the bravest, and had you never been treated wrongfully, would not now
be a hunted outlaw. I love you, and you know it."

"Yes, Addie, and I love you too well to ask you to share my lot till I
can see some sunshine. But this stranger has news for me."

Persimmon Bill turned to the Texan, who had drawn his horse away a
little, so as not to intrude on the conversation between the lovers.

"I have the news you asked for," said Jack. "The party, all told, who
will start at nine or ten in the morning, and camp twenty miles out
to-morrow, number twenty-nine men, all well armed, the most of them with
repeating rifles and six-shooters. Half of them are old scouts, the rest
are miners, gamblers, and a couple of them are traders. They have fifty
animals, saddle and pack, and carry no wagons. The mules are loaded
pretty heavy, at least them that belong to the traders, and are well
worth capture."

"All right, And there is one of the party you don't want hurt until he
is in your hands?"

"Yes, that man is Wild Bill. I want him in my power so that I may see
him die slowly, surely, awfully!"

"There is another man in that party, Bill, who mustn't be