When the chill of the night had set in, Cummings ordered
a second halt, and the horses, hobbled, commenced
to graze on the short buffalo-grass which spread underfoot.
The remainder of the carcass of mutton which Moriarity
had shot had been strapped back of his saddle, and
was now cut up into suitable sizes for the fire which
Cook had built. The meat, laid on the glowing
embers, was soon cooked and, their hunger appeased,
the men, wrapped in their blankets, their feet to
the fire, composed themselves for slumber.
The long hours of the night passed on, the fire had
died out, when Cummings, awakened by a sudden feeling
of chilliness, rose to his feet and piled some twigs
and branches together to make a blaze. As he
stooped to the ground the faint, far-off beats of horses’
hoofs reached his quick ear.
“Dan! Cook! Wake up! Get up lively!”
he cried, as he made a dash for his saddle and threw
it on his horse. “They are after us.”
The camp was instantly in commotion, the saddles thrown
over the horses and tightened with ready and experienced
hands, and vaulting into the saddles the three men
rode out into the bright moonlight as a company of
ten men, armed to the teeth, swept like a whirlwind
around the edge of the timber.
A yell reached the ears of the three fugitives as
they galloped out on the prairie and a voice, clear
and commanding, rang out in tones familiar to Moriarity,
who had heard them in the cooper-shop when the tramp
commanded him to hold out his hands.
“There they are lads. Forward!”
Uttering a deep round oath Dan turned in his saddle,
giving the horse the head, and leveling his rifle
fired point-blank at the pursuing party.
A cry of derision greeted the shot, and Cummings,
saying “Hold your shots, you fool,” drove
his spurs cruelly into the horse’s flanks and,
followed closely by his companions, dashed down the
trail toward Swanson’s ranche.
The pursuit.
Chip and Sam were not the only Pinkerton men in Kansas
City at this time engaged on the Adams Express robbery
case, for from the time Cook awoke from the drunken
stupor in which Cummings and Moriarity found him at
the cooper-shop on the night when Chip was captured
he had been shadowed constantly by Barney, who with
Chip had found the letter heads in Fotheringham’s
trunk.
Day and night had Barney followed him, and he was
but a short distance behind when Cummings took Cook
on the verge of the delirium tremens to his room.
When Cook came back with the horses and with Cummings
rode away, Barney hastened to Chip, who, fully recovered
from the terrible blow on the head, had again assumed
his duties, and reported the fact to him.
Sam, who was on the lookout for Moriarity, was notified
at once, and the three detectives, laying the matter
before the chief of police, were furnished with seven
mounted men armed to the teeth, and all of them old
Texas rangers.
