When my consciousness returned, I found myself lying on my back beside our camp-fire, with my head resting on Peterkin’s knee; and the first sound I heard was his pleasant voice, as he said—

 

“All right, Jack; he’s coming round. I’m quite certain that no serious damage is done. I know well what sort o’ rap he must have got. It’ll bother him a little at first, but it won’t last long.”

 

Comforted not a little by this assurance, I opened my eyes and looked up.

 

“What has happened?” I inquired faintly.

 

“Ah! that’s right, Ralph. I’m glad to hear your voice again. D’you know, I thought at first it was all over with you?”

 

“Over with him!” echoed Peterkin; “it’s only begun with him. Ralph’s days of valorous deeds are but commencing.—Here, my boy; put this flask to your mouth. It’s lucky I fetched it with us. Here, drink.”

 

“No, not until you tell me what has occurred,” said I, for I still felt confused in my brain.

 

“Then I won’t tell you a word until you drink,” repeated my friend, as he looked anxiously in my face and held the flask to my lips.

 

I sipped a mouthful, and felt much revived.

 

“Now,” continued Peterkin, “I’ll tell you what has happened. We’ve floored a rhinoceros and a giraffe and a lion, which, to my thinking, is a pretty fair bag to make after dusk of a Saturday night! And my big rifle has floored you, which is the least satisfactory part of the night’s entertainment, but which wouldn’t have occurred had you remembered my instructions, which you never do.”

 

“Oh, I recollect now,” said I, as the spirits revived me. “I’m all right.—But, Jack, I trust that you have not received damage?”

 

“Not a scratch, I’m thankful to say; though I must confess I was near catching an ugly wound.”

 

“How so?” I inquired quickly, observing a peculiar smile on Jack’s face as he spoke.

 

“Oh, make your mind easy,” put in Peterkin; “it was just a small bit of an escape he made. When you let drive at the lion so effectively, one of the balls went in at his mouth and smashed its way out at the back of his skull. The other ball shaved his cheek, and lodged in a tree not two inches from Jack’s nose.”

 

“You don’t mean it!” cried I, starting up, regardless of the pain occasioned to my injured shoulder by the movement, and gazing intently in Jack’s face.

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