left breast-pocket and bringing out, bit by bit, the fragments of the
bottle of preparation which the doctor had dispensed, and that it had
been his mission to deliver that afternoon. For in the heat of the
struggle, a blow of one of the sticks had crushed the bottle, saturating
his breast and side with the medicament, and suggesting to his excited
brain a horrible bleeding wound and broken bones.

"Oh, dear!" he groaned; and he laughed again, "how easy it is to deceive
oneself;" and he busied himself, as he spoke, in picking out the remains
of the bottle, and finally turned his pocket inside out and shook it
clear.

"Don't smell very nice," he said with a sigh; "but I hope it's good for
bruises. Well, it's of no use for me to go on now, so I may as well get
back."

He was kneeling now and feeling his arms and shoulders again, and then
he cautiously touched his face and head. But there was no pain, no
trace of injury in that direction, and he began softly passing his hands
up and down his arms, and over his shoulders, wincing with agony at
every touch, and feeling that he must get on at once if he meant to
reach home, for a terrible stiffness was creeping over him, and when at
last he rose to his feet, he had to support himself by the nearest tree,
for his legs were bruised from hip to ankle, and refused to support his
weight.

"It is of no good," he said at last, after several efforts to go on, all
of which brought on a sensation of faintness. "I can't walk; what shall
I do?"

He took a step or two, so as to be quite clear of the broken bottle, and
then slowly lowered himself down upon the thick bed of beech-mast and
leaves, when the change to a recumbent position eased some of his
sufferings, and enabled him to think more clearly. And one of the
results of this was a feeling of certainty that it would be impossible
for him to walk home.

Then he glanced round, wondering whether his assailants had gone right
away or were only watching prior to coming back to finish their work.

"I don't know what it means," he said, dolefully. "I can't see why they
should attack me like this. I never did them any harm. It must be for
the sake of money, and they'll come back when I'm asleep."

Vane ground his teeth, partly from rage, partly from pain, as he thrust
his hand into his pocket, took out all the money he had, and then after
looking carefully round, he raised the trowel, scraped away the leaves,
dug a little