“When, sufficiently recovered, he informed us that after leaving the party on the 7th, he and Bryne took the path to the left, instead of following the one to the right as we did. He had not proceeded far when he became unconscious; how long he remained in that state he could not tell. On being restored to consciousness by the drops of rain falling on his face, he found himself alone; Bryne had gone on. For two days he wandered about the bush, trying in vain to find an opening; at one time, while following a native path, he nearly fell into the hands of a party of rebels. He was close upon them, when, warned by the sound of their voices, he crept back into the bush without being seen. A still more singular incident occurred to him the previous evening. He heard the footsteps of our party at Camerontown, and, rushing forward, caught sight of them as they were entering the bush on their return from the canoes. Such was the impression produced by this sight that all his faculties, bodily and mental, were completely paralysed; he could neither speak nor move; when he recovered from his temporary prostration the party had disappeared. For a moment he was tempted to believe that he was labouring under some mental hallucination, the result of over-anxiety and bodily weakness, but it was not so. Finding no traces of our party, he hurried down to the river, where he found the canoe which Captain Greaves had the foresight to preserve. Using a rough piece of board as a paddle, he contrived to make his way up the river till he found himself within four hundred yards of the redoubt, but on the opposite side. Here he had the misfortune to drop the piece of board, and could only save himself from being swept away in the canoe by clinging to the long weeds in the shallow part of the river till his cries brought his comrades to his assistance. “Poor Bryne, the other missing man, was less fortunate. He wandered about in the bush till he was surprised by a party of the enemy. We learned afterwards that he begged hard for his life, but he had to deal with wretches who knew no mercy. Five balls were lodged in his body, and he was stark and stiff when we found him. My story is now told; every one admits that it was one of the most desperate affairs that have occurred in the course of this war.