me!"

"Hallo! Jenkins, did you hear that?"

"What?"

"That shriek? I'm sure some one has been hurt."

"Very likely, lad. There's many a cropper a-goin' on just now, an' we
can't all expect to come off scot-free."

"The voice sounded like that of Fergus," said Archie, "but I can see
nothing for smoke now. Is that a man on the ground over there?"

"Don't know, Archie. Out o' the way, lad; there's another chance. Must
get closer this time."

The tide of the chase swept on with irresistible fury, and not one of
all the band saw that the man who had fallen did not rise.

Following close in rear, and profoundly excited with this new and wild
experience of life, came Little Bill, galloping along on his pony.

The poor boy had either greatly benefited by his recent adventures, or a
change had taken place in his constitution, for he rode with ease, and
found that he could walk considerable distances without the old weary
feeling of exhaustion.

As Little Bill passed over the prairie, which resembled a field of
battle where, not men, but buffaloes had been the combatants, he came
suddenly upon the dismounted hunter, who lay prone upon his face.

"Poor man!" thought Little Bill, pulling up and dismounting, "he seems
to have been badly stunned."

Stooping down he turned the fallen man over on his back with some
difficulty, and then discovered, to his consternation, that it was young
Duncan McKay, and that blood was flowing from a wound in his side.

The shock at first deprived Billie of the power to do anything, but in a
very few minutes his strong common sense returned, and his first act was
to open Duncan's coat and stanch the wound. This he accomplished by
means of a strip torn off the poor man's cotton shirt, and the long red
worsted belt with which the hunter's capote was bound. Then he took
from his pocket a small bottle of water, with which he had provided
himself in case of need, and poured a little into Duncan's mouth.

The result of these operations was that the fallen man opened his eyes
after a while, raised himself on one elbow, and looked round in a dazed
manner.

"What iss it that has come over me?" he asked, faintly.

"You have fallen off your horse, I think," answered the boy, "and I--I'm
afraid a bullet has wounded you in the side."

"Bullet! Side!" exclaimed Duncan, looking quickly down at the bandage,
and attempting to rise. "Little Bill, you must--"

He stopped; seemed to grow fa