Beadles Boys Library of Sport, Story and Adventure, Vol. I, No. 1. | Page 5

me do it," he said sorrowfully.
But the man did not reply, and running to the horse feeding near, he
sprung into the saddle and dashed away like the wind.
Straight to farmer Vennor's he went and told him all, and mounting in
hot haste they rode back to the grove of cottonwoods.

Hugh Hall still lay where he had fallen; but he was dead, greatly to
Billy's sorrow, who had hoped he would not die.
Then, while farmer Vennor remained by the body, Billy went for the
nearest neighbors, and ere nightfall Hugh Hall was buried, and his two
allies in crime were captured in Leavenworth, and given warning to
leave Kansas forever, which they were glad to do, for they had not
expected such mercy at the hands of the enraged farmers.
But before they left they confessed that Billy's story was a true one, and
told where the wife of Hugh Hall could be found, and once again did
the boy become a hero, even in the eyes of the bravest men, and the
settlers gave him the name of Boss Boy Billy, while Nannie Vennor,
now a mother of grown sons, each Christmas time sends him a little
souvenir, to show him that she has not forgotten her boy lover who
fought his 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:
"Billy, if that herd remains much longer free, they will be harder to take
than real wild horses, so go to work and I'll give you a reward of ten
dollars for every one you bring in, for the Government authorizes me to
make that offer."
This was just to Billy's taste, and he went at once home and spent a
couple of days preparing for the work before him, and from which his
mother and sisters tried to dissuade him; but the boy saw in it a
bonanza and would not give it up.
His own pony, Rascal, he knew, was not fast enough for the work
ahead, so he determined to get a better mount, and rode over to the fort
to see a sergeant who had an animal not equaled for speed on the
plains.
Rascal, some sixty dollars, a rifle, and some well-tanned skins were
offered for the sergeant's horse and refused, and in despair Billy knew
not what to do, for he had gotten to the end of his personal fortune.
"Sergeant," he suddenly cried, as a bright idea seized him.
"Well, Billy?"
"They say you are the crack shot in the fort."
"I am too, Billy."
"Well, I'll tell you what I'll do to win your horse, Little Grey. I'll put up
all I have offered you against your animal and shoot for them."
"Why, Billy, I don't want to win your pony and money."
"And I don't want you to; but I'll shoot with you for your horse against
mine and all else I have offered."
The sergeant was a grasping man, and confident of his powers, at last

assented, and the match was to take place at once.
But the officers learning of it were determined Billy should have fair
play, and a day was set a week off, and the boy was told to practice
regularly with both pistol and rifle, for the terms were ten off-hand
shots with the latter at fifty and one hundred yards, and six shots
standing with the revolver at fifteen paces and six from horseback, and
riding at full speed by the target.
Billy at once set to work to practice, though he had confidence in his
unerring aim, and upon the day of trial came to the fort with a smiling
face.
Nearly everybody in the fort went out to see