Little Snap was standing on the very brink of the shelf, with his back toward the precipice, and as Robin Burrnock redoubled his exertions to overpower him, he felt his footing give way and himself reeling backward over the chasm.
Instinctively, he loosened his hold on the outlaw's wrist, to throw out his arm in a wild effort to save himself.
In vain!
With a cry of horror on his lips, he saw the fist of Burrnock descend, and at the same time he went backward over the abyss!
His cry was swiftly followed by one from the outlaw, as he, too, staggered to and fro on the brink.
Little Snap's fall caused him to lose his foothold, and while the postboy fell, the outlaw was carried heels over head down the declivity, another yell of horror awakening the silence of the lonely scene with its startling intonations.
Half stunned by the force of his fall, Little Snap found himself clinging to the edge of the shelf, with the mail bag underneath him.
Finding he had received no serious injury, he crawled to a safe position on the rock, nearly overjoyed to find that he had really come out of the ordeal alive.
It was several minutes before he could realize he was safe and unhurt, but as he finally knew, the force of his fall had been broken by the mail pouch, and, saved from going down the rugged declivity, his life had been spared.
Anxious to know what had become of Robin Burrnock, he looked down the descent to see his body near the bottom, lying as motionless as if he were dead.