A BLOODY FRAY. 237 



the anvil. I frequently endeavoured to rise, 

 and was knocked down again and again, but 

 at last I managed to stagger to my feet, holding 

 my gun, and with this I struck a smart jumping 

 blow at one of the men. He bobbed his head 

 and put up his hand to save himself, and the 

 gun struck him on the thumb-nail, cutting it 

 nearly off. This did not, how^ever, stop the 

 blow, for the gun-barrel struck the ground at 

 our feet, breaking short off at the stock, and 

 causing me to fall forward on my hands and 

 knees. Then it was thump, thump, thump on 

 my head again ; more anvil business. I had a 

 tough job to get on my feet again, but I 

 managed to at last, having the butt of the gun 

 left to defend myself with. 



Now ensued a sharper fight than before. 

 I warded off a good many blows, not only 

 with the butt end of the gun but also with my 

 left arm, so that after a time the latter got 

 numbed, and I knew that one of the bones 

 was broken, which turned out afterwards to be 

 the case. I used the stump of the gun so 

 quickly from right to left that I warded ofi 



