er, till at last I was able to understand that I had been struck
down by a tremendous blow on the head, the very realisation of that fact
being accompanied by such acute pain, that I was glad to lie there
perfectly inert without thinking at all.

But this fit did not last long, and I could see now the matter in its
true light, and it all came back about how I gave the alarm, and must
have been standing there as the Indians came over, and I was struck down
at once.

Then as I lay there in the darkness, I began to recall how I had been
lying with some one across me, and half suffocating me.

I had crawled away a few yards in my half insensible condition, but now
a shuddering desire came over me to creep back, and find out who it was
that lay there dead or dying.

It was terrible, that feeling, for I felt that I must go, and as I crept
back, it was with the idea that it was probably one of those who would
be the first to rush to the defence of the palisade, and in a confused,
half-dreamy way, I found myself combating the fancy that it might be my
father.

I paused when about half-way back, afraid to go farther, but the intense
desire to know the worst came over me again, and I crept on and then
stopped with my hand raised, and held suspended over the prostrate
figure, afraid to move it and touch the body.

At last, and I uttered a faint sigh full of relief, for my hand had
fallen upon the bare breast of a man, and I knew that it must be one of
the Indians. It was puzzling that he and I should be there, and no one
near, for I could not detect the presence of either of the sentries.
Where was everybody? Some one was coming, though, the next minute, for
I heard soft footsteps, and then the murmur of voices, which came nearer
and nearer till I heard a familiar voice say--

"Oh, Mass' George, do 'peak."

I tried to obey, but no sound would come, even now that I felt a vast
sense of relief, for I knew that I must have been hurt, and the two
blacks were in search of me.

"Ah, here him are," suddenly cried Pomp, and I next felt two great hands
lifting me gently, and I was carried through the darkness to what I knew
must be the block-house, where I had some recollection of being laid
down. Then I directly went off to sleep, and did not awake till nearly
day, to see a black face close to the rough pallet on which I lay, and
as the day grew broader, I made out that it was Pomp watching by my
side.

"Mass' George bette