All at once the great desperado realized that he was falling through space.
Like a rock, hurled with terrific force, he had thrown himself over a sheer precipice whose rocky bottom lay two hundred feet below him.
JESSE TAKES A TERRIBLE REVENGE.
"Danged queer about Jess," declared Comanche Tony.
"Something sure has happened to him and I for one am going to look for him," returned Frank.
The bandits were gathered on a broad, shelving rock looking down into the canyon, where they had remained when Dew Drop left them after conveying them to safety after the explosion in the cave.
Acting upon her advice they had remained there until she should have gone to the village to learn if Jesse had been taken prisoner or killed, perhaps, by the savages. She had promised them a speedy return, but hours had elapsed since her departure and the men were getting restive. Little had been said by them, they being too full of the thoughts of the lively incidents that had happened since they first set foot in the mountains of Southern Colorado.
"Better not try it till the moon comes up," advised Wild Bill who knew the treacherous nature of the country where they were. "I calkerlate you'd break yer danged neck tryin' to git out of here in the dark without a guide. When it gits lighter we'd better all vamoose. We'll find Jesse if we can, and if not we'll mosey over to tother side of the gulch and make camp in a place I know of. From there we kin scout for him. The gal said we was to stay here—"