BUFFALO BILL. 149 



the council-chamber. A few months later some 

 drunken Texans attempted a riot, and one of them, 

 a noted gambler, commenced firing on the marshal. 

 The latter returned the fire, shooting not only the 

 gambler, but one of his own friends, who, in the gloom 

 of the evening, was hurrying to his aid. Bill paid 

 the expenses of the latter's funeral, which on the 

 frontier is considered the proper and delicate way of 

 consoling the widow whenever such little accidents 

 occur. 



The Professor took occasion, before parting with 

 Wild William, to administer some excellent advice, 

 urging him especially, if he wished to die in his bed, 

 to abandon the pistol and seize upon the plow-share. 

 His reputation as Union scout, guide for the Indian 

 country, and sheriff of frontier towns, our leader 

 said, was a sufficient competency of fame to justify 

 his retirement upon it. In this opinon the public 

 will certainly coincide. 



Buffalo Bill was to be our guide. He informed us 

 that Wild Bill was his cousin. Cody is spare and 

 wiry in figure, admirably versed in plain lore, and 

 altogether the best guide I ever saw. The mysteri- 

 ous plain is a book that he knows by heart. He 

 crossed it twice as teamster, while a mere boy, and 

 has spent the greater part of his life on it since. 

 He led us over its surface on starless nights, when 

 the shadow of the blackness above hid our horses 

 and the earth, and though many a time with no trail 

 to follow and on the very mid-ocean of the expanse, he 

 never made a failure. Buffalo Bill has since figured 

 in one of Buntline's Indian romances. We award 

 8 



