A BRUMMAGEM GUN. 17 



" hold 'un straight, and mind what I told 'ee 

 about the trigger finger now then." 



I brought the gun up in readiness below the 

 elbow. " Pull," I exclaimed. 



Heavens ! what a bang. Am I dead, or what 

 is it ? A dreadful feeling of numbness up my 

 arm. 



" Great God ! the gun has burst/ 7 was my 

 thought, as I reeled and tumbled headlong to 

 the ground. t 



When I came to myself and senses I was 

 sitting on old Mathew's knee. 



" Don't 'ee die, Measter Julus," screamed the 



old man, " don't 'ee leave us. By ! he 



shan't," he exclaimed fiercely, "he be only 

 fifteen. What will the colonel say, and the 

 poor missus; she'll go mad. For the love of 

 God look up, Measter Julus. His poor left arm 

 be knocked to smash, his eye be cut out, and he 



be a dying. Lord help that b d ' Knock 



'em Down,' when I catches him, the thundering 

 thief." 



By degrees my senses returned, and I under- 

 stood the terrible catastrophe that had oc- 

 curred. 



2 



