Young Wild West at Forbidden Pass | Page 8

pleasant little valley the camp was
located in.
Not until they saw the three men disappear in the pass did our friends
go into the saloon.
But let us follow the cowboys and find out something more about them.
When our hero had said that they might belong to the outlaws of
Forbidden Pass he had hit the nail right on the head.
The fact was that there was a gang of eighteen villains located in the
pass, and these three had been picked by the leader to ride to Big
Bonanza for the sole purpose of leading the miners to believe that there
was no longer any danger for travelers to go through that way when

they wanted to go to Silver Bend.
During the time the trio was in the saloon they had been talking in this
way, and they had partly made Hoker, the proprietor, believe that there
was something in what they said.
The man Wild had treated so roughly bore the name of Chuck Snivel,
and he was a sort of lieutenant of the band.
The leader of the outlaws was a scheming man of a fair education, who
was called Cap Roche.
This villain owned a store in Silver Bend and was also the postmaster
there.
He divided his time with his lawless band and the store, and, being well
thought of in the mining camp, he had all the chance in the world to
pursue his villainy and profit greatly from it.
As Chuck Snivel and his two companions entered the pass they turned
and took one last look at Young Wild West and his partners.
"I reckon there's trouble ahead, fellers," the lieutenant of the outlaw
band observed. "That boy is about ther worst one I ever had tackle me;
an' ther others is putty nigh as bad, no doubt. It sorter strikes me that
they're here fur ther purpose of findin' us out. Yer all heard what ther
boy said as we come away, I reckon?"
"I sartinly did, fur one," answered the man nearest him.
"He said if we happened ter run across any outlaws in Furbidden Pass
we should tell 'em that Young Wild West is lookin' fur 'um," the other
added, quickly.
"That's jest what he said!" exclaimed Snivel. "Now, then, what does
that mean?"
"It means that he's after us," said the second, shaking his head and
shrugging his shoulders.

"It looks that way," the third villain admitted.
"Well, yer kin bet your life we'll tell ther outlaws, won't we?"
"We sartinly will."
"Come on, then! Let's git to ther cave."
They set their bronchos at a gallop and moved rapidly through the pass.
"I wonder if ther sign was all right?" said one, as they rode along. "I
was thinkin' so much about what that boy said that I never thought ter
look."
"It was all right," replied Snivel; "I looked at it. Ther sign that Cap
Roche made on a barrel-head is there. Yer kin bet that it'll stay there,
too. Young Wild West might take a notion ter knock it down; but if he
does we'll see to it that it's put up ag'in, or another jest like it."
When they had covered about a mile they slowed down a little and
began to look behind them very often.
The fact was that they were nearing the hidden headquarters of the
outlaw band of Forbidden Pass.
The pass itself was just about two miles in length, the entrance being
less than a quarter of a mile from the cluster of shanties that made up
the mining camp of Big Bonanza.
At the other end the regular trail to Silver Bend would be reached, and
by taking the cut through the short pass just about fifteen miles could
be saved on a journey to Silver Bend.
But, as John Sedgwick had told Young Wild West, the miners no
longer took the short cut, since so many holdups had occurred in the
pass.
The clever man who captained and ran the gang of villains was now
trying to make the traffic be resumed through the pass, and, as has been

said, Chuck Snivel and two others were sent over to the little mining
camp to make the miners believe that there was no longer any danger to
travel that way.
There was no doubt but that they had succeeded pretty well, too, since
they were now certain that Young Wild West was coming through that
way.
The boy had said enough to convince them of that.
It was a little more than half way through the pass that time three
villains, who had posed as cowboys at Big Bonanza, came to a halt.
They looked cautiously in both directions, and, not seeing a sign of a
human being, Chuck