DASTARDLY ATTACKS 
237 
the lower part of the backbone. He called out 
“ Itai !” (hurt), and as I looked round at him he 
dropped his paddle and collapsed, his lips turning 
blue. Another man was hit in one leg, then in the 
other, but he continued pulling. After this the 
stroke oarsman was hit in the calf of the leg, and 
he dropped off his thwart and lay in the bottom of 
the boat. I thought he was killed. Then the other 
two men and myself were hit, and bullets were 
making holes through the boat everywhere. The 
man nearest me and the one next him were hit in 
both legs ; then a bullet struck one of them in the 
forearm, breaking the bone, on which the poor 
fellow dropped his oar and grasped the wounded 
arm, lying over with his head on the gunwale of the 
boat. At that moment a bullet struck him in the 
top of the head, and came out at the nape of the 
neck. I can almost say that I actually saw the 
bullet strike his head, for when he cried out as his 
arm was shot through I turned from my paddling, 
and looked at him just as the bullet struck his head. 
The next man to him was badly wounded in the 
limbs, and as he lay over, with his chin on the side 
of the boat, a ricochet bullet from the water 
entered his forehead just above his nose, and pene¬ 
trated the skull, lodging just under the skin in the 
crown of his head. This bullet, being almost spent, 
had a bruising effect, for it blackened both his eyes 
and forehead. The man nearest the stroke received 
only a slight flesh wound in the calf of his leg. I 
was hit five times, counting the first scratch. Three 
bullets struck me on the felt side, but only passed 
across my chest and stomach through my clothing ; 
another entered the thick part of my thigh, and came 
