o on the left.

"Well," said Browne, "we shall have to form a hollow square, officers in
the centre, as the Highlanders did at Waterloo, and then I shall claim
the privilege of my rank."

But our pleasantry was, as may easily be imagined, rather forced. Our
adversaries were now evidently bent upon mischief, and thoroughly in
earnest. We were none of us veterans, and notwithstanding an assumption
of coolness, overstrained and unnatural under the circumstances, our
breath came thick and painfully with the intense excitement of the
moment.

At a signal from their scarred leader, the savages rushed upon us
together. I can give no very clear account of the confused struggle
that ensued, as I was not at the time in a state of mind favourable to
calm and accurate observation. A few blows and thrusts were exchanged;
at first cautiously, and at as great a distance as our weapons would
reach; then more rapidly and fiercely, until we became all mingled
together, and soon each of us was too fully occupied in defending
himself to be able to pay much attention to any thing else. At the
commencement of the attack I was standing next to Browne, who being
evidently singled out by his former opponent, advanced a step or two to
meet him. He skilfully parried several downright blows from the heavy
club of the latter, who in his turn dodged a swinging stroke which
Browne aimed at his head, and instantly closed with him. The next
moment they went whirling past me towards the edge of the bank, locked
together in a desperate grapple, which was the last that I saw of them.
I was assailed at the outset by an active and athletic savage, armed
with a short club. He was exceedingly anxious to close, which I, quite
naturally, was as desirous to prevent, knowing that I should stand no
chance in such a struggle, against his superior weight and strength.
While I was doing my best to keep him off with my cutlass, and he was
eagerly watching an opportunity to come to closer quarters, Morton,
locked in the grasp of a brawny antagonist, came driving directly
between us, where they fell together, and lay rolling and struggling
upon the ground at our feet. My opponent, abandoning me for a moment,
was in the act of aiming a blow at Morton's head, when I sprang forward,
and cut him across the forehead with my cutlass. The blood instantly
followed the stroke, and gushing in torrents over his face, seemed to
blind him: he struck three or four random