n my power to capture Sergeant Weston, never
would I lay hand upon him, and I believe you feel the same way, unless
it was your orders to do so. Still, somehow, the thought came to me
that, a fugitive, and friendless, he might have turned outlaw."

"I do not think so, and I am sure now that, if it was Weston who came to
my aid, and whom you saw, he perished in the mine; but now let us go
over what I wish you to do, and my plan to run down these road-agents,
who I am sure are from Last Chance Claim and nowhere else," said Buffalo
Bill.

CHAPTER X.

DOCTOR DICK'S DRIVE.

A pall seemed to have fallen over Last Chance, in the death of Dave
Dockery, and its life began to flag in gloom. Seeing this, and fearing
that the hold-up of the coach might injure the mines, Landlord Larry
decided to get up a scheme to attract outsiders to the mines, and so the
rumor went out of a large find of gold in one of the canyons near the
town.

A couple of miners only were put there to work it, and the claim was
known as the Doctor Dick Mine, as the gold king at once bought from the
landlord a half-interest in it.

This news stirred the miners to increased exertions in their own mines,
and also caused prospectors to go out on the search for new "finds."

The wounded passenger continued to steadily improve bodily, under the
skill and kind care of Doctor Dick, but his mind was a wreck, and no one
believed that he would ever regain his reason.

Doctor Dick hinted at an operation some day that might relieve the
pressure upon the brain, yet spoke of it also as an experiment and a
dangerous one, only to be tried as a last resort.

The man was as docile as a child, gave no trouble, and simply sat about
whittling sticks into the shape of a revolver.

At last the week passed by, when the stage was to start again upon its
run eastward.

A number of miners had volunteered as an escort, but Doctor Dick said he
would drive on the run out and come back as a passenger; and he did not
expect trouble, so would not accept an armed escort.

The night before the stage was to start, Harding, the courier to Fort
Faraway, returned. He brought with him a letter from Buffalo Bill to
Doctor Dick, and another for Landlord Larry, stating that the troops at
the fort were pressed just then with extra duty, as the Indians were in
an angry mood, and for them to do what they could for the protection of
the coaches until Major Randall could investigate an