Buffalo Bill Wanted! by Alex Simmons Page A

Inspector Desmond tried to speak to Turnbuckle at the hospital, all he managed to say was ‘smuggling’ and ‘buffalo.’ ”
    â€œ ‘Smuggling,’ ” Owens repeated, “and Zeke Black brought the buffalo from a ship that had just come from America.”
    â€œMaybe that ship brought more than buffalos, ” Wiggins muttered.
    â€œWell, we know it brought the chinless man too,” Jennie said. “Perhaps he was the buffalo’s minder.”
    â€œThat gink didn’t know nothing about how to handle the beast.” Dooley’s voice was scornful.
    â€œSo his coming along wasn’t much help,” Wiggins said.
    Owens laughed. “More like the opposite.”
    Wiggins nodded. “If Chinless had no experience with animals, why did Zeke bring him along?”
    He snapped his fingers. “Remember what Buffalo Bill told us when we asked him about smuggling? He didn’t think any of his people could be involved because they wouldn’t have the connections with people on the ships.”
    Owens grinned. “But Zeke Black seems to have had a friend on this ship.”
    With a loud whoosh of steam, the train jerked to a halt. Jennie glanced out the window. “This is our stop!”
    The train’s conductor gave the members of the Raven League a dirty look as they barely managed to get off the train in time. They stood on the station platform, enveloped in clouds of steam and smoke.
    â€œI hope you got all that written down,” Dooley told Jennie.
    â€œOh, I don’t think we’ll be forgetting it very soon.” Wiggins reached into his pocket. “Right now, though, we have a little business to take care of.” He fished out half a crown and plopped the heavy coin into Jennie’s hand. After a moment’s thought, he added a few shillings more. “Will that be enough to feed Silent Eagle and get him a new set of clothes?”
    She jingled the coins in her fist. “More than enough if I can get my friend Jacob to help.”
    Wiggins glanced at Owens. “Would you help too—with the carrying and such?”
    Owens shot him a suspicious look. “And what will you be doing all the while?”
    â€œDooley and I will be visiting the docks,” Wiggins replied. “Most everything that comes into London— legal and illegal—has to pass through there. The folks that work in the area have to see things.”
    He smiled at Dooley. “We need to learn about smuggling, and I’m hoping that some friend or other of your father’s will have something to teach us.”

Chapter 12
    WIGGINS TOOK A DEEP BREATH, RELISHING THE BRACKISH smell in the air. He and Dooley had spent hours walking the docks, but Wiggins never tired of coming down here. On the few cases for Mr. Holmes that involved the river, he’d run into some truly amazing characters. Even the villains and scoundrels were more colorful than the common thugs of London’s underworld.
    There were men from many countries—India, Africa, even the South Sea Islands. And there was the booty—ivory, gold, even lost treasures of precious jewels.
    Now it appeared that this case, even though it started with an Indian from America, was leading in the same direction. Down to the sea.
    Well, at least down to the river, Wiggins corrected himself. He wondered if his friend shared his feelings about the docklands, especially since Dooley’s father worked on land and sea as a carpenter and laborer. Certainly Dooley knew a lot of the dockworkers and sailors, and the boys had spent some time talking to many of them.
    â€œSo far we haven’t learned much.” Dooley sighed as they moved along the wharves. The cargo boats here seemed large enough to an ignorant landsman’s eye, but Wiggins knew far-larger vessels pulled into the gigantic dockyards to load or unload cargo, while even larger oceangoing ships often put in farther