I should have the greatest difficulty to tell you what followed next after
this tragic circumstance. It is all to me, as I look back upon it, mixed,
strenuous, and ineffectual, like the struggles of a sleeper in a
nightmare. Clara, I remember, uttered a broken sigh and would have fallen
forward to earth, had not Northmour and I supported her insensible body. I
do not think we were attacked: I do not remember even to have seen an
assailant; and I believe we deserted Mr. Huddlestone without a glance. I
only remember running like a man in a panic, now carrying Clara altogether
in my own arms, now sharing her weight with Northmour, now scuffling
confusedly for the possession of that dear burden. Why we should have made
for my camp in the Hemlock Den, or how we reached it, are points lost
forever to my recollection. The first moment at which I became definitely
sure, Clara had been suffered to fall against the outside of my little
tent, Northmour and I were tumbling together on the ground, and he, with
contained ferocity, was striking for my head with the butt of his
revolver. He had already twice wounded me on the scalp; and it is to the
consequent loss of blood that I am tempted to attribute the sudden
clearness of my mind.