He is in the throes of a raging fever, which affects his brain as his blood.
The stalwart hunter sits down by his side, and stays there, tenderly nursing him.

It glads him to observe there are others solicitous as himself--to find that he and Hamersley have fallen among friends.
Though also surprising him, as does the sort of people he sees around.
First, there is a lady, easily recognised as the _angel_; then a man of military aspect, who addresses her as "Hermanita," unquestionably a gentleman with a second and older man wearing spectacles, by both spoken of as "el medico." Strange inhabitants for a hovel, as that this should be in such an odd situation--hundreds of miles beyond the borders of civilisation, as Walt well knows.
No wonder at his wondering, above all when he discovers that his comrade is already known to them--to the younger of the two men, who is their host.

This, however, is soon explained.

Walt was already aware that the young prairie trader had made a former trip to New Mexico, when and where, as he is now told, the acquaintance commenced, along with some other particulars, to satisfy him for the time.
In return for this confidence he gives a detailed account of the caravan and its mischances--of the great final misfortune, which explains to them why its owner and himself had been forced to take to the Staked Plain, and were there wandering about, helpless fugitives.
To his narrative all three eagerly listen.

But when he enlarges on the bravery of his young comrade, lying unconscious beside them, one bends upon the latter eyes that express an interest amounting to admiration.
It is the "angel." In the days that succeed she becomes Walt's fellow-watcher by the bedside of the sufferer; and often again does he observe similar glances given to their common patient.