He tried desperately to regain his balance, failed, and plunged headlong into the rocky wall. The next instant his senses left him, and he knew no more.
CHAPTER XIII.
DELL AND WAH-COO-TAH.
When the scout opened his eyes, the exciting events which he had recently passed through seemed more like a dream than anything else. As his brain slowly cleared, and he was able to pick up the broken thread of occurrences more firmly, he began to wonder at what he saw.
He was lying in the level, and a lighted candle stood on a rock near his head. Beside him knelt Dell Dauntless, bending over and allowing a trickle of water to fall upon his face from one of the canteens.
“How are you now, Buffalo Bill?” the girl asked.
“Nothing worth mentioning has happened to me, Dell,” he answered, pushing aside the canteen and sitting up. “I took a tumble over that rock where you’ve put the candle, and struck my head against the wall of the passage. It was a small thing to knock a man out.”
“It must have been a harder blow than you supposed.”
“No discount on that, pard; still, it isn’t anything to make a fuss over.”
He picked up his hat and put it on, then gave the girl an inquiring look.
“How is it I find you here?”