Buffalo Bill Wanted! by Alex Simmons

Author:Alex Simmons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2010-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

“THIS IS BETTER THAN HANGING FROM THE BACK OF some wagon.” Dooley eagerly leaned forward into the wind.

“So long as you don’t tumble off the front.” Jennie caught hold of Dooley’s belt, pulling him back. She sat in front with Dooley, trying to look calm and collected.

“You act like this is your first time on an omnibus, ” Owens teased.

“It is,” Dooley admitted cheerfully. “And I bet you’ve never been on one neither.”

“Face it, carrottop,” Owens shot back from the seat across, where he sat with Wiggins. “None of us have ever been on one of these.”

Wiggins chuckled. “True.” The omnibus was a double-decker affair with seats inside and on the roof. A single flight of narrow stairs curled up the back end of the horse-drawn public transport to the top—which was where he and his friends had decided to sit on their journey back out to the Wild West encampment. When they met this morning, the bus had been Wiggins’s first choice.

“Wouldn’t the Underground have been faster?” Owens asked. They’d had to change buses several times since they set off on the journey.

“Sure,” Wiggins replied sarcastically. “And it would have eaten up the money Colonel Cody gave us a lot quicker too.”

They arrived at the show grounds and quickly headed for the second footbridge—the one that led to the corral.

“All right,” Wiggins said, stopping next to the stables that flanked the entrance to the bridge. “This is where the constable was attacked. So any clues left behind will be right around here.”

“You mean if there are any clues,” Dooley corrected.

Wiggins tried to adopt a stern expression. “No, I don’t,” he replied. “Mr. Holmes says there are always clues; you just have to look for them the right way. . . .” He struggled for a moment, trying to remember the right words. “Don’t simply see, observe ”

“We also have to get these messages to Colonel Cody and to Chief Tall-Like-Oak,” reminded Owens.

“There aren’t too many people around here now,” Jennie pointed out, “but that might change.”

Wiggins thought for a moment, then grinned. “All right, then,” he replied. “You and Dooley start looking. Owens and I will join you after we deliver the messages.”

“But I want to—”

“Grand!” Owens called back as he and Wiggins ran off. “We’ll be back soon.”

Dooley gave Jennie a look. “Well, isn’t this nice? They go off and leave us to muck around. I think Wiggins just put us together ’cause he thinks I need a minder.”

“Perhaps he just thinks we work well together,” Jennie said. “Remember our first case?”

Dooley immediately brightened. “Maybe you’re right.” He quickened his step. “Well, then let’s get to it.”

For several minutes, Jennie and Dooley wandered about the entrance to the bridge, looking at the ground. They made wider and wider circles, then started looking inside the stables. The painstaking search quickly left Dooley feeling frustrated, especially since he wasn’t really sure what they were looking for.

“This isn’t getting us anywhere,” he complained.

Jennie was peeking over the rail into one of the empty horse stalls.

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