DAN GILBERT."

The boomer read the note with interest. Then he hastily scribbled off
the answer:

"Have read the note that was left. Am following Yellow Elk, who stole my
mare and has Jack Rasco's niece a captive. Yellow Elk is bound for some
cave in the mountains. PAWNEE BROWN."

The answer finished, the boomer placed it in the hole, let back the flat
rock and wrote on the blaze of the tree, under Dan Gilbert's initials:

P. B.

CHAPTER XII.

YELLOW ELK.

The writing of the answer to Gilbert's communication had taken several
minutes, and now Yellow Elk was entirely out of sight. But Pawnee Brown
was certain of the trail the Indian had taken, and by a little faster
riding soon brought the rascal again into view.

Yellow Elk was now descending into a valley bound on the north by a
rolling hill and on the south by a cliff varying from twenty to forty
feet in height. Even at a distance Pawnee Brown could see that the
Indian was having considerable trouble with Nellie Winthrop, who felt
now assured that her first suspicions were correct and that Yellow Elk
had taken her far from the boomers' camp.

"I will not go with you!" cried the girl, and did her best to break from
the warrior's grasp. But Yellow Elk's hold was a good one, and she only
succeeded in tearing her dress.

"We be dare in few minutes now," replied the redskin. "Den all be
right--you wait and see."

"I won't go with you--let me down!" screamed Nellie, but he silenced her
by a fierce gesture which made the boomer's blood boil. It was only by
the exercise of all his will power that the great scout kept himself
from shooting down Yellow Elk on the spot.

The end of the long cliff was almost reached when the Indian chief
reined up the mare and sprang to the ground, still holding Nellie tight.
As he held the girl by the wrist with one hand he led Bonnie Bird
forward with the other. In a few seconds, girl, mare and Indian had
disappeared from view in the midst of a thick fringe of bushes.

They had scarcely vanished when Pawnee Brown was on the ground and had
tethered his horse in a little grove of pines a hundred feet away. This
done, he stole forward to what he felt must be the mouth of the cave
Yellow Elk had mentioned.

The great scout knew he was on delicate and dangerous ground. There was
no telling how many Indians beside Yellow Elk t