One of them saw her and shot.

She fell half-fainting with a bullet through her arm, and then half a dozen of them gathered quickly about her.

I ran to them, screaming and striking out with my fists, but the devil was in them, and she, poor blossom, lay there helpless, calling 'Boy, boy, boy!' as she had always called me since we were babies together.

Must I tell you the rest ?--must I tell you--how those devils--" "Don't, don't! Oh, _no_!" "I thought I must die! They held me there--" He had gripped one of her wrists until she cried out in pain and he released it.
"But the sight must have given me a man's strength, for my struggles became so troublesome that one of them--I have always been grateful for it--clubbed his musket and dealt me a blow that left me senseless.

It was dark when I came to, but I lay there until morning, unable to do more than crawl.