flow T became an Idler. 23 
it went with a terrible bang and sent a conical 
buliet 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 back. 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. Buthe 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- 
