nt. This was a certain
indication of trouble. It was the stock-tender's business to be on hand
with a relief pony the instant the rider came in. The Pony Express did
not tolerate delays.

Galloping into the yard, Bill dismounted and hurried to the stable. In
the door he saw the stock-tender lying dead, and at the same instant a
woman's screams rang from the cabin near by. Turning about, Bill found
himself face to face with a ruffian who was rushing from the house,
brandishing a six-shooter. He asked no questions, but pulled one of the
two guns he carried and fired. No sooner had the man fallen, however,
than a second, also armed, came out of the house. Hickock disposed of
this fellow also, and then entered the place, where four others opened
a fusillade on him.

Although the room was thick with smoke, and Bill had to use extreme
care to avoid hitting the woman, who was screaming in the corner, he
managed to kill two of his assailants with his revolvers and to ward
off a blow with a rifle a third had leveled at him.

The blow knocked the weapon from his hand, but his knife was still left
him, and with it he put the man with the rifle out of the way. His
troubles were not at an end, however. Another man came climbing in the
window to avenge his fellow gangsters. Bill reached for a rifle which
lay on the floor and shot first.

When he took count a few minutes later he discovered that he had killed
five men and wounded a sixth, who escaped in the thick of the fight.

The woman, who had been knocked unconscious by one of the desperadoes,
was soon revived. She was the stock-tender's wife, and had been
attacked the by gang as soon as they had slain her husband.

The passengers of the Overland stage, which rolled in as Bill was
reviving the terrified woman, were given a view of Western life which
none of them ever forgot.

Bill was the hero of the occasion, and a real hero he was, for probably
never has a man won such a victory against such terrific odds in all
the history of the war against the ruffians of the West.

It was at Springfield, Missouri, that Bill had his celebrated fight
with Dave Tutt. The fight put an end to Tutt's career. I was a personal
witness to another of his gun exploits, in which, though the chances
were all against him, he protected his own life and incidentally his
money. An inveterate poker player, he got into a game in Springfield
with big players and for high stakes. Sitting by the table, I