“To the right!” cried the teamster.

George did not think his companion had seen the man.  He rode after him into the brush, and saw the fellow hurrying through it with a load in his arms.  The man looked around.  George could dimly make out his dark face; and his figure was almost clear.  He was an Indian and unusually tall.  Then he plunged into a screen of bushes, and George, riding savagely, drove his horse at the obstacle.

He heard the twigs snap beneath him, a drooping branch struck him hard; and then he gasped with horror.  In front there opened up a deep black rift in which appeared the tops of trees.  Seeing it was too late to pull up, he shook his feet clear of the stirrups.  He felt the horse plunge down, there was a shock, and he was flung violently from the saddle.  He struck a precipitous slope and rolled down it, clutching at twigs, which broke, and grass, until he felt a violent blow on his head.  After that he knew nothing.

It was broad daylight when consciousness returned, and he found himself lying half-way down a steep declivity.  At the foot of it tall reeds and sedges indicated the presence of water, and he realized that he had fallen into a ravine.  There was a small tree near by, against which he supposed he had struck his head; but somewhat to his astonishment he could not see his horse.  It had apparently escaped better than he had, for he felt dizzy and shaky and averse to making an effort to get up, though he did not think he had broken any bones.

After a while he fumbled for his pipe and found some difficulty in lighting it, but he persevered, and lay quiet while he smoked it out.  The sunlight was creeping down the gully, it was getting pleasantly warm, and George felt dull and lethargic.  Some time had passed when he heard the teamster’s shout and saw the man scrambling down the side of the ravine.

“Badly hurt?” he asked, on reaching George.

“No,” said George; “I don’t think it’s serious; I feel half asleep and stupid.  Suppose that’s because I hit my head.”

The other looked at him searchingly.  His eyes were heavy and his face had lost its usual color.

“You want to get back to your homestead and lie quiet a while.  I didn’t miss you until I’d got out of the bluff, and then the wagon was close ahead.”

“How was it you avoided falling in after me?”

“That’s easy understood in the daylight.  The trail twists sharply and runs along the edge of the ravine.  I stuck to it; instead of turning, you went straight on.”

“Yes,” said George, and mentioned having seen the Indian who left the wagon.  Then he asked:  “But what about the fellow you followed?”

His companion hesitated.