“Then pull like devils,” cried the spokesman, when he saw this. “If they get another chance they’ll sink us. We must put the bend of the river between us and them, before we even stop to see how much he is hurt. Once in the next reach and we’ll be safe.” And, suiting the action to the word, he pulled till his strong blade bent like a whip-stalk.
The remainder of the crew made corresponding exertions, so that in a few minutes the boat shot around the turn, interposing a wooded point between it and the settlement. The men now rested on their oars, when two of them, the spokesman being one, proceeded to examine into the condition of their fallen employer.
He was not dead, as they had begun to believe from his silence and his not even stirring, but badly wounded in the side by a slug, the gun having been apparently loaded with that description of missiles. On being moved, he opened his eyes with a groan, stared vacantly around, and then closed them in a swoon.
“He’s booked for Davy Jones’ locker,” said the spokesman, “unless we can get a doctor for him soon; booked for it whether or no. Lay him down easy, Bill; put his head here—that’s all we can do for him.”
With these words they resumed their oars, and pulling steadily down the river with a long, regular, man-of-war’s stroke, soon left the vicinity of the settlement behind them. The men, thus unexpectedly burdened with a wounded employer, were as yet uncertain where to find a physician soonest in the disturbed state of the region, and were debating it among themselves, when suddenly the noise of firing, as of volleys of musketry, was heard in the distance ahead.
“The King’s men hare attacked the Neck,” cried the man who had been the principal speaker all day. “Hark! there it is again.”
There was no mistaking the sounds of battle, which now grew momentarily stormier, filling the air and booming along the water. As the boat struggled onward against the tide, the noise of the strife continued to stimulate the rowers, who, though comparatively near, yet made such slow headway as to be uncertain, for what seemed an age, which way the victory would incline. At last the curve in the river disclosed to sight the group of tall chestnuts, and immediately afterwards the British flag floating over the works.
Aylesford had now recovered from his swoon, and was sensible of what was going on, though as yet he had not spoken.
“We’d better land him there,” said the spokesman. “There’s always plenty of doctors with his Majesty’s troops. Besides, they’ll make us come to, any how.”
“Yes! land me at once,” said Aylesford, feebly. “I’ll see that you’re protected.”