first duel to save her from a villain.




CHAPTER IV.

SHOOTING FOR A PRIZE.


While Mr. Cody was an Indian trader at Salt Creek Valley in Kansas,
Billy laid the foundation for his knowledge of the red-skin character,
and which served him so well in after years and won him a name as scout
and hunter that no one else has ever surpassed.

For days at a time Billy would be in the Indian villages, and often he
would go with the warriors on their buffalo and game hunts, and now and
then would join a friendly band in a war trail against hostiles.

Another favorite resort of Billy's was Fort Leavenworth, where his
handsome face, fearlessness and manly nature made him a great favorite
with both officers and men.

On one occasion while at the fort a large Government herd of horses,
lately brought up from Texas, where they had been captured wild on the
prairies, stampeded, and could not be retaken.

Once or twice Billy had come into the fort with a pony of the fugitive
herd which he had captured, and the quartermaster said to him: