How I became an Idler. 23 



it went with a terrible bang and sent a conical 

 bullet into my left knee, an inch or so beneath the 

 knee-cap. The pain was not much, the sensation 

 resembling that caused by a smart blow on the 

 knee ; but on attempting to get up I fell bac]^. I 

 could not stand. Then the blood began to flow in 

 a thin but continuous stream from the round sym- 

 metrical bore which seemed to go straight into the 

 bone of the joint, and nothing that we could do 

 would serve to stop it. Here we were in a pretty 

 fix ! Thirty- six miles from the settlement, and 

 with no conveyance that my friend could think of 

 except a cart at a house several miles up the river, 

 but on the wrong side ! He, however, in his anxiety 

 to do something, imagined, or hoped, that by some 

 means the cart might be got over the river, and 

 so, after thoughtfully putting a can of water by 

 my side, he left me lying on my saddle-rugs, and, 

 after fastening the door on the outside to prevent 

 the intrusion of unwelcome prowlers, he mounted 

 his horse and rode away. He had promised that, 

 with or without some wheeled thing, he would be 

 back not long after dark. But he did not return all 

 night ; he had found a boat and boatman to trans- 

 port him to the other side only to learn that his plan 

 was impracticable, and then returning with the dis- 

 appointing tidings, found no boat to recross, and so 

 in the end was obliged to tie his horse to a bush and 

 lie down to wait for morning. 



. For me night came only too soon. I had no 

 candle, and the closed, windowless cabin was in- 



