Buffalo Bill Wanted! Read Free Page B

grandstand at a full gallop.
    Hundreds of hooves pounded the earth. War whoops and yells filled the air —and in the lead rode Buffalo Bill!
    Wiggins held his breath as the stampede rumbled right for him. At the last possible second, the colorful line of riders came to a perfect halt, kicking up clouds of dust. Wiggins and everyone else went wild. Dooley couldn’t contain himself, leaping about as he cheered.
    For the next hour, Wiggins found himself transported to a different world of wild sights and rugged pastimes. He and his friends chattered excitedly as they saw exhibitions of trick shooting, roping, and riding.
    Other times, Wiggins completely forgot anyone was with him as he became lost in dramatic scenes. Indians attacked a wagon train, a stagecoach full of special guests, and a settler’s cabin—but every time, Buffalo Bill Cody and the cowboys came riding to the rescue.
    The Indians showed off their special skills, riding races against one another, demonstrating a war dance. They also showed grimmer talents, seizing captives by the hair, slashing with a glittering knife, and holding up a reddened scalp!
    Shocked, Wiggins glanced at the other members of the Raven League. Jennie turned away while Dooley hid his eyes. “That wasn’t real!” Owens insisted in a hoarse voice.
    It wasn’t—the prisoners soon reappeared in other scenes, safe and sound, though Wiggins found it hard to keep track of them as the arena swirled with wild scenes, thundering hooves, echoing gunshots, and deafening applause. By the time the show ended, Wiggins’s hands hurt as he and his friends filed out with the crowd.
    The members of the Raven League faced a long walk back to Mile End Road in London’s East End. But reliving the amazing action they’d seen made the trek seem easier.
    â€œWe’ve got to come back tomorrow!” Owens enthusiastically cried.
    â€œHow?” Jennie raised the practical question. “We’ve no money left at all. And we were lucky today, sneaking in as we did. If Colonel Cody hadn’t come along, that fellow would have tossed us out on our backsides.”
    Wiggins laughed, but he had to agree with her. It would take a while to raise some money to come back—train fare, at least. For the rest, well, they’d snuck in once. Could they do it again?
    â€œYou have to admit,” he said to Jennie, “that was a bit of all right, wasn’t it?”
    â€œA bit?” Jennie’s face beamed. “It was the most wonderful thing I’ve ever seen. I plan to write everything down so I’ll remember.” She held up her special treasure, the little notebook and pencil Dr. Watson had given her. Her smile dimmed a bit. “But I won’t be writing about how the Indians took that man’s hair off. Scalping, they called it.”
    â€œNot just them,” Wiggins told her. “Even Buffalo Bill lifted a scalp back when he was fighting the Indians, or so I hear.”
    â€œMy mother’s cousin wrote a story about that when the Wild West show first came to London,” Owens said.
    The others nodded. They knew Owens’s relative worked for a small West Indian newspaper in the city.
    â€œIt was after the Indians had wiped out a detachment of cavalry,” Owens began.
    â€œCuster’s Last Stand,” Dooley eagerly put in.
    Owens nodded. “I wouldn’t want those savages coming after me. A bad lot, they are.”
    â€œThose red devils wouldn’t last long in London,” Dooley insisted.
    â€œThey’re brave, though,” Jennie said. “We saw how dangerous one buffalo could be. Imagine riding into a herd of them—hundreds. That’s what Indians do when they hunt the creatures.”
    â€œWell.” Wiggins chuckled. “If they’re such a wonder to you, maybe we’ll let ’em scalp you tomorrow.”
    The others laughed—even Jennie, after clouting the boys