ture of the herd of Indian ponies he
received an offer from the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company to keep their
workmen supplied with meat, and the terms allowed him were so generous
that he felt he owed it to his family, for he had become the father of a
lovely little daughter, Arta, born in Leavenworth, to accept the
proposition, and did so.

The employees of the road numbered some twelve hundred, and Buffalo
Bill's duty was to supply them with fresh meat, a most arduous task, and
a dangerous one, for the Indians were constantly upon the war-path.

But he undertook the work, and it was but a very short while before his
fame as a buffalo-killer equaled his reputation as an Indian-fighter,
and often on a hunt for the shaggy brutes, he had to fight the red
savages who constantly sought his life.

It was during his service for the Kansas Pacific that he was
rechristened Buffalo Bill, and he certainly deserved the renewal of his
name, as in one season he killed the enormous number of _four thousand
eight hundred and twenty buffaloes_, a feat never before, or since
equaled.

And during this time, in the perils he met with, and his numerous
hair-breadth escapes, in conflict with red-skins, horse-thieves and
desperadoes, it is estimated that over a score of human beings fell
before his unerring rifle and revolvers, while, he still bearing a
charmed life, received only a few slight wounds.

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE CHAMPION.

Some time after his great feat of killing buffalo for the Kansas
Pacific, Buffalo Bill was challenged by Billy Comstock, another famous
buffalo-hunter, and a scout and Indian interpreter, to a match at
killing the shaggy wild animals.

Those who knew Comstock and had seen him among a herd of buffalo, and
had heard of Buffalo Bill's exploits, were most desirous of making a
match between the two to discover which was the best "killer."

On the other side, those who knew Buffalo Bill and had seen him at work
at the buffaloes, were willing to bet high that he would prove the
champion.

As the men were not only willing, but anxious to meet, it was not
difficult for them to do so, and all preliminaries were satisfactorily
arranged to all parties concerned.

The men were to, of course, hunt on horse-back, and to begin at a
certain hour in the morning and keep it up for eight hours, a large herd
having just been found and its locality marked for the day of the sport.

The stakes were made five hu