I made a thrust at his breast; this he warded off, and I only succeeded in wounding him severely in the hand.

The Count sprang forward, and seized the fellow from behind, and thus afforded me an opportunity of raising myself from the ground.

The whole affair had not taken more than a few seconds.
The negro's fury was now roused to its highest pitch by the wounds he had received: he gnashed his teeth at us like a wild beast, and flourished his knife with frightful rapidity.

The Count, in his turn, had received a cut right across the hand, and we had been irrevocably lost, had not Providence sent us assistance.

We heard the tramp of horses' hoofs upon the road, upon which the negro instantly left us and sprang into the wood.