his letter over twice, and said in a musing way:

"Those outlaws are becoming bold, indeed, when they deliberately rob a
young girl and make her their prisoner. The man Brandon was her
messenger, sent in search of her father, and his mysterious
disappearance, _to me_, means that he has been captured by the
road-agents.

"Now, I dare not halt the coach on the way to receive the girl, if the
road-agents give her up; but I will be on the watch, see it go by, and
be as near this spot when the ransom is paid as I dare be, for from here
I may be able to track those devils to their lair."

So saying, the scout set out upon his return for his basin camp.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

THE SCOUT ON THE WATCH.

When Buffalo Bill returned from the Dead Line to his secret camp, it was
to prepare himself for several days' absence from it, for his intention
was to hang about the Last Chance trail, discovering all that it was in
his power to do.

He found a retreat upon a cliff, where there was a thicket of pines,
giving him a view in both directions of the trail for a mile or more.

He saw from there the coach coming to the rendezvous, with the ransom
money for Celeste Seldon's release, and upon the box beside the driver
was Doctor Dick.

Yet the scout did not know who might be inside the stage, so dared not
make any sign of his presence.

On went the coach, and Buffalo Bill at once started down from the cliff,
and followed in its trail at an Indian trot, which kept him well up with
it, yet just out of sight.

As he approached the Dead Line, he went more cautiously, and, reaching
the entrance to the pass, made a flank movement and climbed to the top
of the ridge.

It was after continued search that he at last found a point of
observation, and he risked his life by reaching a spot where he would be
dashed to death, hundreds of feet below, should his foot slip or nerve
fail him.

From this spot, where he clung to a tree, he turned his field-glass down
the pass, and could see the coach standing at the Dead Line, a quarter
of a mile away. He saw that the coach had been turned to the
right-about, the team being headed back for Last Chance, and Doctor Dick
was standing near it, Harding being still on the box and grasping the
reins.

Watching, with every nerve strung, the scout saw the masked road-agent
appear, and later the fair captive. Then followed two other road-agents
bearing the baggage of Celeste Seldon, and soon after