ders in battery at the gate. I looked
back for my companions, but they were not up--not a man of them to be
seen. "No matter," thought I, "they'll be here soon; meanwhile, I'll
make for that little copse of brushwood"; for a small clump of low furze
and broom was standing at a little distance in front of the farm.
All this time, I ought to say, not a man of the enemy was to be seen,
although I, from where I stood, could see the crenelated walls, and
the guns, as they were pointed. At a distance all would seem like an
ordinary peasant house.

'As I crossed the open space to gain the copse, piff! came a bullet,
whizzing past me; and just as I reached the cover, piff! came another.
I ducked my head and made for the thicket; but just as I did so, my foot
caught in a branch. I stumbled and pitched forward; and trying to save
myself, I grasped a bough above me; it smashed suddenly, and down I
went. Ay! down sure enough--for I went right through the furze, and into
a well--one of those old, walled wells they have in these countries,
with a huge bucket that fills up the whole space, and is worked by a
chain. Luckily, the bucket was linked up near the top, and caught me, or
I should have gone where there would have been no more heard of Pierre
Canot; as it was, I was sorely bruised by the fall, and didn't recover
myself for full ten minutes after. Then I discovered that I was sitting
in a large wooden trough, hooped with iron, and supported by two heavy
chains that passed over a windlass, about ten feet above my head.

'I was safe enough for the matter of that; at least, none were likely
to discover me, as I could easily see by the rust of the chain and the
grass-grown edges, that the well had been long disused. Now the position
was far from being pleasant. There stood the farmhouse full of soldiers,
the muskets ranging over every approach to where I lay. Of my comrades
there was nothing to be seen--they had either missed the way or
retreated; and so time crept on, and I pondered on what might be going
forward elsewhere, and whether it would ever be my own fortune to see my
comrades again.

'It might be an hour--it seemed three or four to me--after this, as I
looked over the plain, I saw the caps of our infantry just issuing
over the brushwood, and a glancing lustre of their bayonets, as the sun
tipped them. They were advancing, but, as it seemed, slowly--halting
at times, and then moving forward again--just like a force waiti