It did
not bleed much, and as it was on the right side, I was in hopes that it
might not be very serious. But Bill shook his head. "However," said he,
"sit down, Ralph, and I'll tell you all about it.
"You see, after we left the boat an' began to push through the bushes,
we went straight for the line of my musket, as I had expected; but by
some unlucky chance it didn't explode, for I saw the line torn away by
the men's legs, and heard the click o' the lock; so I fancy the priming
had got damp and didn't catch. I was in a great quandary now what to
do, for I couldn't concoct in my mind, in the hurry, any good reason
for firin' off my piece. But they say necessity's the mother of
invention; so just as I was givin' it up and clinchin' my teeth to bide
the worst o't and take what should come, a sudden thought came into my
head. I stepped out before the rest, seemin' to be awful anxious to be
at the savages, tripped my foot on a fallen tree, plunged head foremost
into a bush, an of coorse, my carbine exploded! Then came such a
screechin' from the camp as I never heard in all my life. I rose at
once, and was rushing on with the rest, when the captain called a halt.
"'You did that a-purpose, you villain!' he said with a tremendous oath,
and drawin' a pistol from his belt, let fly right into my breast. I
fell at once, and remembered no more till I was startled and brought
round by the most awful yell I ever heard in my life--except, maybe,
the shrieks o' them poor critters that were crushed to death under yon
big canoe.
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