“Yes, father! But—but what does it all mean?”
“That you must lie still and rest for a bit. You have had a nasty blow on the head, but you will soon be better.”
“But—where are we?—where is Perry, and where is the colonel? I can’t think, but I don’t understand why you are here.”
“You can ask yourself that last question by-and-by, my lad.”
Cyril shrank a little, for those words were more potent than any reproach, and Captain Norton went on:
“You were asking about your friends. They are all here, but have been hurt more or less. We only came up just in time.”
“You came up—just in time? Oh, I remember now. We were fighting and trying to escape, and somebody fired. Was it you, father?”
“Yes, my lad, my friends and I. If we had not arrived as we did, I’m afraid that there would have been a tragedy here in this valley, for the Indians were roused, and I believe that you would none of you have lived to see another day.”
“And the Indians: where are they now?”