The Prairie Detective: Secret Service Series No. 24 — page 119: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE PRAIRIE DETECTIVE. PT AAT could not have been taken more aback. Robinson soon learned that just prior to his departure from the scene of victory, Persimmon Bill had dispatched Hatfield and the men who were with him, charging them to recover Esther at any cost. His own retreat had been hurried by the discovery that but few of the hunters were killed. He knew their tenacious dispositions, and surmised that they would concen- trate their forces at once, and prepare to attack him _.again. He had no wish to meet them without his usual advantage, and determined that he would make a wide detour and throw them off the track.” In return for this information the ex-Bloodsucker assured the party that he had discovered Esther’s trail, and knowing his chief’s eagerness to consum- mate her capture, had taken upon himself the task of catching her. He had followed her as they had until he struck the limestone ridge. That had baffled him as completely as it had themselves. The men believed him implicitly, and were glad to have him once more one of their number. As soon as Hatfield could be moved, they placed him again upon his horse, and then the party pushed ahead across the belt of rock, soon reaching the pre- cipitous spot at the bank of the little rivulet spoken of before. At that point they halted in uncertainty, gazing about utterly bewildered. At no point could they find any token which seemed to indicate that the person they were seeking had gone that way. “Tt is my opinion,’’ volunteered Robinson, who was, of course, deeply interested in leading them as far away from the correct spot as possible; “‘it is my opinion that she has taken to the stream, in order to baffle us. By George, boys, she’s a smart one!’’ Nearly all his companions were inclined to the . ae NR ae | comicbooks.co