I was with
the first of them to get there, and I ran, accidental, against the first
sodger who got his musket to his shoulder, and there was no saying where
the ball went to. He cursed me for a clumsy baste, and would have knocked
me down, but he was in too great a hurry to load again.
"I saw the bullets strike the water, close to you, when you came up
again. I saw you look round, and guessed ye was thinking what was the
best thing to do. Then we saw no more of ye. I didn't think you had been
hit, for I saw you go down regular, as if you were diving in the sea for
pleasure; and not sharp, as you would have done if a bullet had hit you.
I guessed as you were meaning to swim up the stream, and I did the only
thing I could to stop them from following up, by shouting that I saw ye,
and throwing a big stone into the water close to where I had seen your
head before, knowing that, by that time, ye must be nigh a hundred yards
up.
"The fools didn't stop to think, but they took to throwing stones, and
firing as hard as they could, and by the time they had done I knew, if ye
were alive, ye must be nigh a quarter of a mile up the river. Some of
them did run up, and I kept with them, but sorrah a glimpse of ye did we
get.
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