To relate we escaped
both, and when within hailing distance of the light, which we perceived
came from a torch hold by some one, we shouted with all our
remaining strength, but without diminishing our exertions to reach it.
Soon - with feelings that only those who have encountered similar dangers
can understand - answering voices fell upon our ears. Eagerly we pressed
forward, and in the excitement of the moment we relinquished all hold
of one another, and attempted to wade through the mud singly.
"Stop! halt!" shouted more than one stentorian voice; but the warning
came too late. My feet slipped - a sharp pain succeeded by a sudden
chill - a feeling of suffocation - of my head being ready to burst - and I
remembered no more.
When I recovered consciousness it was late in the morning, for the
bright sun shone upon the ground through the crevices of a sail cloth
tent, and so different was all that met my eyes to the dismal scene
through which I had so lately passed, and which yet haunted my memory,
that I felt that sweet feeling of relief which we experience when,
waking from some horrid vision, we become convinced how unsubstantial
are its terrors, and are ready to smile at the pain they excited.
That I was in a strange place became quickly evident, and among the
distant hum of voices which ever and anon broke the silence not one
familiar tone could I recognize. I endeavoured to raise myself so as to
hear more distinctly, and then it was that an acute pain in the ankle
of the right foot, gave me pretty strong evidence as to the reality of
the last night's adventures. I was forced to lie down again, but not
before I had espied a hand-bell which lay within reach on a small
barrel near my bed. Determined as far as possible to fathom the
mystery, I rang a loud peal with it, not doubting but what it would
bring my brother to me. My surprise and delight may be easier imagined
than described, when, as though in obedience to my summons, I saw a
small white hand push aside the canvas at one corner of the tent, and
one of my own sex entered.
She was young and fair; her step was soft and her voice most musically
gentle. Her eyes were a deep blue, and a rich brown was the colour of
her hair, which she wore in very short curls all round her head and
parted on one side, which almost gave her the appearance of a pretty
boy.
These little particulars I noticed afterwards; at that time I only felt
that her gentle voice and kind friendliness of manner inexpressibly
soothed me.
After having bathed my ankle, which I found to be badly sprained and
cut, she related, as far as she was acquainted with them, the events
the previous evening.
