But such a crowd came at us from the rear
of the stockade that we had to go out again, and we ran down the
hill. Our ranks were broken, and we had no time to rally before a
lot of horsemen were among us. My bayonet was broken, and I had
nothing but my empty musket to fight with. I warded off the sabre
cuts with it right and left, so, dodging among the horses, and I was
not once wounded. It was all over in a hot minute or two, but, when
the supports came up, and we were afterwards mustered, only five men
of our company answered the roll-call. Of course I was one of them,
and the barrel of my musket was notched like a saw by all the strokes
I had parried with it." The last time Philip saw Summers he was
hammering bluestone by the roadside. The pomp and circumstance of
glorious war had left him in hisold age little better than a beggar.
Philip found Nyalong without much trouble, and renewed the
acquaintance begun at Bendigo with Mr. Barton and the other diggers.
To all appearance his promotion was not worth much; he might as well
have stayed at the Waterholes. Mr. McCarthy acted as school director
--an honorary office--and he showed Philip the school. He said:
"It is not of much account, I must acknowledge; we were short of
funds, and had to put it up cheap. Most of the wall, you see, is
only half a brick thick, and, during the sudden gusts that come
across the lake, the north side bulges inward a good deal; so, when
you hear the wind coming you had better send the children outside
until the gale is over.
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